Vernon’s Minard wins silver medal at Big White event
It was a historic day for Canadian parasnowboarding at Big White Ski Resort as Curt Minard of Vernon, Alex Massie of Barrie, Ont., and Michelle Salt of Calgary all took home World Cup medals. Minard and Massie grabbed World Cup silver for the first time of their careers, while Salt managed to grab her third bronze of the year and first in para-snowboardcross this season.
Salt was the first of the Canadians to pick up her hardware after prevailing in the small final of the Women’s Lower Limb 1 category over Megan Harmon of the U.S.
Minard was up next and, after taking a nasty spill in his first heat, he was able to reach his first career big final and capture silver behind France’s Maxime Montaggioni in the Upper Limb category.
“I just went out there with no expectations and had some fun and it paid off,” Minard said. “I’m so stoked. I’ve got a couple of bronzes, so I’m slowly working my way up in the Upper Limb category. I’m absolutely ecstatic to have a silver World Cup medal.”
In Men’s Lower Limb 2, Massie was neckand-neck with Gurimu Narita for most of the race and crossed the line just behind the Japanese rider.
“It’s special,” Massie said. “Team Canada showed up today, we straight operated all over the course. It was a bit of a battle out there, some mental barriers for sure, but worked through it, came out as close to the win as I can be happy with.
“It still feels pretty good to hang that silver around my neck for the first time,” he added.
Montreal’s Sandrine Hamel walked away with fourth in the Women’s Lower Limb 2 category, while Andrew Genge (Oshawa, Ont., Upper Limb), John Leslie (Arnprior, Ont., Lower Limb 2) and Colton Liddle (Wawa, Ont., Lower Limb 2) finished sixth, 12th and 14th, respectively.
The team now prepares to take on the Banked Slalom course for the World Cup Finals at Big White today.
“Obviously happy to compete at home, and to have such an awesome, technical, but fun course,” Salt said. “It’s kinda cool to see that we’re all upping and progressing on our riding level. I feel like the (event staff) have it really dialled in and this is one of the best competitions on the circuit.”