Read an interesting article in Singletrack where Chipps spent a day at Scottish Cycling and the XC team. On a training ride with them he observed that part of their training was riding pump tracks and lap after lap of the tabletop line. The goal was to get them comfortable with getting air time. This was based on coach Paul Newnham's observation of the direction the technical features of World Cup and Olympic XC are going.
Interesting… but it seems like UCI has other plans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0qXxXRTwUQ
Not a single tire left smooth smooth gravel on that day anywhere even a mm into the air.
Some nail biting downhill technical sections at 1:38 ish.
Don't get me wrong, the lowest ranking of these pros can absolutely rip any kind of terrain, but the world cups don't push them anywhere near the envelope of their handling abilities.