Rize (Türkiye) 1 February 2026 – The 2026 FIM Snowcross World Championship held its first round today at the Rize Handüzü Nature Park in the northeastern region of Türkiye, near the coast of the Black Sea itself!
The weather disrupted proceedings in the early part of the day, causing visibility issues leading to delays and red flags for the first Women’s Snowcross World Championship race. After that, however, conditions improved to allow a full day’s racing, held in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd!
The Men’s first round overall was won by Swedish teenager Olle Sahlström with a solid 1.23 scorecard for Ski-doo, although the former World Champion Aki Pihlaja from Finland won race two with a decisive first lap move.
The Women’s class was totally dominated by another Swede on a Ski-doo, Wilma Jonsson, who had a perfect weekend after winning both of yesterday’s qualifying heats, and holding off a challenge from her namesake Elise Jonsson.
Despite the early weather issues, the crowd enjoyed some typically spectacular Snowcross action and are no doubt looking forward to round two of the Championship on the 3rd and 4th of February, this Tuesday and Wednesday!
SNX
Following Pihlaja’s dominance of his qualifying race on Saturday, the 2024 World Champion looked to be the one to beat on Sunday, but he got the start badly wrong for race one, and was back in eighth through the first turn!
The hot rookie Sahlström, winner of the other qualifier with the first pick for start position, emerged with a clear lead from Finn Topi Posti, another youngster, but Posti was passed on the first lap by another Swede, Filip Harr.
Linus Aberg made it a Swedish top four for much of the race, although he was the top Lynx rider in the pack, with Norwegian Ingebrigt Hoelsaeter holding down fifth spot. Pihlaja took some time to make progress through the pack, while Italian Michele Donazzan crashed on lap two! The former Champ hassled Hoelsaeter around the spectacular but narrow circuit.
Amazingly, through sheer fitness and determination, Pihlaja but through from sixth to fourth in the last three laps of the race, rescuing what could have been a vital blow to his Championship chances.
Posti got close to re-passing Harr, but managed to keep him back to take second place.
Sahlström kept clean out front, working through traffic well, with some of the biggest launches off the finish line downhill jump. Winner by ten seconds, the sight of Pihlaja in fourth must have been heartening. Hoelsaeter dropped to ninth at the close, but Aberg kept fifth ahead of Finnish rider Topi Rinne on his Lynx sled.
Race two for the men saw Pihlaja determined to be stronger out of the gate, but Sahlström still beat him to the first corner. The Finn shoved his Lynx up the inside of the Swede in the third corner, giving him no option but to back off! The Ski-doo man kept it in second place, but seemed unable to stop Pihlaja from powering away in the lead.
Behind them, Swede Anton Lindström held third initially, but Harr carved up the inside of him later in the race, and the collision put Lindström on the ground! Rinne was able to take third in the later laps from Harr, but the taller man had done enough to secure third on the podium. Robert Lunden was able to take fifth in race two behind Harr, making up for a poor 11th in race one. Aberg’s sixth in race two was enough to take him to fifth overall behind Rinne.
The ecstatic Sahlström admitted to getting tired later in the race, but he settles nicely in his Turkish hotel room with a five-point gap in the Championship over Pihlaja before the action resumes on Tuesday!
SNX Championship Results – Rize 1
WSNX
Wilma Jonsson, second in the WSNX Championship last year, was a massive favourite with reigning Champion Saga Forsell absent from the race in Türkiye. The women had a tough start top the day, with fog dramatically sweeping across the mountain to delay proceedings. The race director too ka snap decision to run the race when the fog cleared, but it came right back again after just four minutes, bringing out the red flag to stop the race!
On the restart, Wilma again took the Holeshot ahead of her namesake, not a relation, Elise Jonsson, while Tilde Karelius in third ahead of Hilda Öhman. The race remained fairly static as the fog swept in again, and with the race just over half-distance the result was declared in favour of Wilma Jonsson.
Race two was virtually a carbon copy, but held in much clearer sunny conditions! Elise Jonsson stayed closer this time, but Norwegian Mali Hoelsaeter was demoted from third by a great pass from Öhman, making it a Swedish 1-2-3 once more! American veteran Kerry Collier rounded out the top five on her Ski-Doo sled, making it a whole top five for that manufacturer!
Öhman completed the podium behind the two ladies called Jonsson, and Wilma leads the series by nine points from Elise as they prepare for the Qualifying action for round two on Tuesday!
With Qualifying Races coming around that quickly, the Championship will truly take shape in round two this week.
Related Posts
STANDOUT PERFORMANCES FROM SAHLSTROM AND W.JONSSON MARK OPENING QUALIFYING DAY FOR SNX AND WSNX IN RIZE
2026 FIM SNX WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED WITH OPENING CEREMONY IN RIZE
