Cool weekend for Canadians
Skiers, snowboarders, sliders collect multiple medals at World Cup events
The National Hockey League finally returned to the ice, but the most spectacular show on ice and snow on the weekend was turned in by Canada’s other winter sport athletes.
From dynamic kids — teenagers such as Justine DufourLapointe and Mark McMorris winning World Cup moguls and X Games snowboard gold, respectively — to age-defying old-timers — Maëlle Ricker winning world championship snowboardcross gold — it was a podium fest for spinners, sliders, skaters and jumpers.
In world championship and World Cup competition around the globe, Canadians recorded five wins, six seconds and a third. And in Olympic disciplines at the X Games, it was one gold, two silver and three bronze.
“It’s super exciting,” Ricker, a North Vancouver native, said of the bountiful medal haul just a year out from the Sochi 2014 Olympics. “It’s really showing that the Own the Podium program after 2010 is still working and actually going beyond.
Ricker’s world championship gold Saturday at Stone- ham, Que., was a long time coming for the woman with the sweet giggle and steely determination.
The 34-year-old has won FIS Crystal Globes for season titles and Olympic gold in 2010 at Cypress, but had never won a world title. She was eighth in 2001, sat out 2003 with a bad knee, then was third in ’05, fifth in ’07, fourth in ’09 and fourth again in 2011.
“It’s extremely satisfying,” Ricker said of her big win. “It’s definitely something that was missing, just not performing on the right day. It was a little bit of a thorn in my side and a big goal going into this season.”
Ricker was the fastest qualifier to move into six-boarder heat racing. She led wire-towire in her quarter-final and semifinal, then got out front in the final over the tricky five-jump start section into the opening corner. Right behind her, however, was Canada’s other dominant SBX competitor, Dominique Maltais.
“In the last third of the course, I definitely felt Dom on my shoulder,” said Ricker. “It was the only part of the course she was faster than me. We saw that on video all week. But I stayed calm, kept my body moving forward and beat her to the line.”
Canada’s other world championship winner Saturday was no surprise as Calgary’s Kaillie Humphries, the most dominant female driver bobsleigh has ever known, defended her title at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Humphries, also the reigning Olympic champion, and first-year brakeman Chelsey Valois of Zenon Park, Sask., finished 0.68 ahead of the American duo of Elana Meyers and Katie Eberling.
Sunday, Chris Spring and brakeman Lascelles Brown were a Canadian-best sixth in the men’s two-man event won by Francesco Friedrich of Germany. Lyndon Rush and Jesse Lumsden were 10th. Fast Times: Christine Nesbitt placed first and second in a pair of 1,000-metre races on the weekend at the ISU world sprint speedskating championships, but failed to repeat as overall winner after finishing just 12th in two 500 metre races.
Nesbitt’s specialty is the middle-distance races — she was the Olympic gold medallist at 1,000 metres in 2010 — and she blitzed the field in Saturday’s 1,000, winning in a season-best time of one minute, 12.91 seconds, 0.77 better than Britanny Bowe of the United States.
“I just felt that every stride I took, especially in the first 200 metres, I was getting pressure right away and that allowed me to carry lots of speed in the first lap and then build speed off that.”
Sunday, her time of 1:13.28 left her 0.09 seconds behind Heather Richardson. The American, who was fourth in the 500 and third in both the 1,000 and 500 on Saturday, claimed the overall sprint title.
Meantime, Jamie Gregg of Edmonton was second both days in the men’s 500 behind Joji Kato of Japan, while Junio Gilmore of Calgary made the podium Sunday in third place. Moguls Mania: In Calgary, Justine Dufuor-Lapointe, 18, and her sister, Chloe, finished one-two in a World Cup event, with promising 17-year-old Andi Naude of Okanagan Falls, B.C., finishing sixth. Quebecer Mikael Kingsbury, with his 18th consecutive podium finish, captured the men’s event for his 13th career win.
“It’s really showing that the Own the Podium program after 2010 is still working and actually going beyond.”
NORTH VANCOUVER’S MAëLLE RICKER