Näslund, who currently leads both the ski cross and overall World Cup leaderboards, completed the course in a time of 1 minute 15.49 seconds to finish top of the qualification table.

This was Näslund’s second qualification victory in two days at the Swedish venue after he topped the standings yesterday.

Her excellent time today was 1.04 seconds quicker than nearest rival Fanny Smith from Switzerland, who claimed gold at the World Cup event in Montafon, Austria, earlier in this campaign.

Germany’s Heidi Zacher, who has won one gold and four silver medals so far this season, posted a time of 1:16.62, the third-best of the day.

There was a more surprising result in the men’s qualification event as Switzerland’s Romain Détraz, who has won just one World Cup title throughout his career, recorded the best time of the day after crossing the finish line in just 1:10.75.

Last year’s ski cross World Champion, Jean-Frédéric Chapuis of France, came second, 0.22 seconds behind Détraz.

Détraz’s compatriot Marc Bischofberger, who is currently 86 points clear at the top of the ski cross rankings after winning the last three events, could only finish in 26^th with a time of 1:12.30.

However, he will still be among the favourites when the World Cup racing starts tomorrow.

Sweden’s Victor Oehling Norberg, who was first in qualification yesterday, could only finish 28^th, 2.45 seconds slower than his previous effort of 1:10.00.

Tomorrow sees World Cup racing get underway in both the men’s and women’s event with the competition concluding on Sunday (January 14).