Robin Bussard has his sights set on a medal at the home World Championships in Morgins, which begin on Sunday. The Fribourg ski touring athlete's big goal is to take part in the 2026 Olympic premiere.
01.03.2025, 04:31
01.03.2025, 07:22
SDA
The audience in the Valais winter sports resort will undoubtedly be cheering on the mixed relay (Monday) and especially the sprint (Thursday). These are the two competitions that will be part of the program at the next Winter Games and will be held in Bormio at the foot of the Stelvio. Robin Bussard excels in these two disciplines and is enjoying the most successful season of his young career in the World Cup.
Focus on sprint
His first success last winter in the sprint in Villars-sur-Ollon, where he had already shone at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games with his twin brother Thomas, took him a step further. Like many other athletes, the two 22-year-olds have decided to concentrate on the Olympic disciplines this season.
"We have the advantage of being quite versatile. We enjoy one-and-a-half hour individual races just as much as 20-minute vertical races and two to three-minute sprints. But with the Winter Games, we had to specialize in order to have all the chances on our side," explains Robin Bussard during a meeting at his home in Albeuve, Fribourg.
The work he started a year ago is bearing fruit: This season, he has been on the World Cup podium four times, with two 2nd places in the sprint and two 3rd places in the mixed relay, together with Marianne Fatton from Neuchâtel.
"Consistency is really crucial in terms of selection for the Olympic Games. Things are going quite well at the moment, and if I can put in a good World Championships, it will be even better. But above all I have to perform well in the following World Cup races," says the man from Fribourg looking ahead.
Only 36 Olympic tickets up for grabs
The small field of Olympic participants - only 18 women and 18 men will be taking part, including two Swiss men and two Swiss women - makes qualification very complicated indeed. "It's almost more difficult to qualify for the Games than to achieve a top five ranking later on," Robin Bussard points out, referring to the "high Swiss density" in the discipline. "We are one of the best nations and there are perhaps six or seven of us who are eligible for qualification. The competition is really tough."
The U23 European sprint champion is well on his way to getting his ticket, as he is in 3rd place in the rankings in this discipline this season behind Arno Lietha from Graubünden - "a pure sprinter" - and Oriol Cardona Coll from Spain. However, the decision on who will receive the tickets will only be made at the last moment, in January 2026.
The essence of the sport
The decision to include only the sprint and mixed relay as Olympic disciplines caused a lot of discussion in the scene. Some players were of the opinion that these disciplines did not really capture the essence of the sport.
The 29-year-old Rémi Bonnet from Fribourg, two-time world champion in vertical (2021, 2023) and singles (2023), lamented in several media outlets the direction the sport has taken in order to become more telegenic. "Today, young athletes are only trained in sprint and relay events. This is no longer the sport we used to know. It's a shame to see young people spending their days on the side of the piste perfecting how to put on and take off skins and other such procedures instead of exploring beautiful routes in the mountains," said Bonnet in an interview with the newspaper "La Liberté" at the beginning of February.
The right balance
"It's clear that these Olympic disciplines are now becoming very big and that the organizers are neglecting the others somewhat. You have to find the right balance, because the DNA of our sport is still the races in the mountains and not the sprint," says Robin Bussard.
The condensed format and the size of the course naturally make the sprint more interesting to watch for spectators on site and on TV: "It's a discipline with a lot of 'show', similar to ski cross. Its appeal has made it the first choice for the Olympic Games," says Bussard.
He makes it clear that he wants to return to the other competitions after the 2026 Olympics: "One day, I also want to win the overall World Cup. To do that, you have to be good in all disciplines." The ambitious and versatile skier will have the opportunity to showcase the full range of his skills at the World Championships in Morgins next week, as he will also be competing in the individual race.
