Forty-two countries from five continents but only one Spanish winner in giant slalom

Giant slalom is ultimately the basic discipline in alpine skiing, one which every skier needs to learn and master first before moving on to other specialties.

That explains in part why the start list of the men’s giant slalom event at the FISU World University Games on Sunday, 19 January was one of the largest and most diverse so far at Torino 2025, slalom being its only potential challenger in that regard.

The lineup for the much-anticipated race in Bardonecchia Melezet was comprised of a whopping 118 student-athletes coming from 42 countries across five continents. In the end, of course, stood only one winner at the 2006 Olympics snowboard venue, Spain’s Aleix Aubert Serracanta.

Besides Antarctica, Africa was understandably the only missing continent in the event, which was filled with countries one might not expect to see in skiing competitions due to their warm climate or non-mountainous terrain. Unsurprisingly, Europe was the most represented region with 28 member nations, followed by Asia with seven, South America with three, and North America and Oceania with two apiece.

“This is a super special event, there are so many countries here together,” said 13^th-place finisher Hugh McAdam from Australia. “It’s a really nice environment, where you see, for example, when having lunch or dinner, countries like Japan, Italy, France and from all over the world.”

The 24-year-old does most of his training and racing in Europe, where he lives for about half the year. The rest of the time he trains at home in Thredbo. For that reason, it’s hard to manage his studies in addition to his sporting career but luckily for him, his university is flexible enough, he explained.

“This sport is too good”

“It’s interesting, all the countries you could imagine are here. Coming from Singapore, where there is no mountains or skiing, I’ve done a lot of racing with Europeans. However, seeing a lot of Asian and American countries join in makes it a really big field,” said 22-year-old Faiz Basha, who ended up in 67^th position.

A student from University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, Basha grew up in Geneva, Switzerland, where he learned to ski. “When I grew older and moved back to Singapore, I realized I can’t get rid of this sport, it’s too good.”

In the end, Spain’s Aubert Serracanta (2:02.72) was the most dominant racer on the day. Despite a slight mistake in his second run, he pushed on and triumphed by well over a second, in 2:02.72.

“I am happy I can experience this”

“It is super interesting and I’m all for it,” the 19-year-old from Open University of Catalunya in Barcelona said about the wide range of alpine skiing athletes in Torino. “When we race in Europe, there is not so many diverse people. I am happy that I can experience this. When I watch the Olympics, I always stay until the last skier, because I think that is the spirit of sport that everyone gets to compete against the best, no matter what the level is.”

Separated by three hundredths of a second, Switzerland teammates Loic Chable (2:03.93) and Nick Spoerri (2:03.96) rounded out the podium.

For Chable, who studies at the University of Denver in the United States and is also a quarter Brazilian, this was his second medal of the Games, after taking gold in the alpine combined on 16 January.

The take place from 13-23 January. Watch all the competitions live on . Click on the link to find the full schedule.

Written by Nejc Molan, FISU Young Reporter, Slovenia

The Young Reporters Programme exemplifies FISU’s commitment to more than sports competitions. At every FISU World University Games, a group of talented aspiring sports journalists are chosen to cover the competition.

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