Canadian Maltais leads all qualifiers at Andorra snowboard cross World Cup event
VALLNORD- ARCALIS, Andorra — Olympic- bound Dominique Maltais posted the fastest time in qualifying Friday at a snowboard cross World Cup competition.
The native of Petite- Riviere- StFrancois, Que., finished in one minute 13.43 seconds in qualifying, which determines the seedings for the finals on Saturday.
Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic was also fast finishing right behind Maltais in 1: 13.66. Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria was third in 1: 15.40.
“I think Eva and I certainly sent a message ( Friday) being two seconds faster than the rest of the field,” said Maltais, the 2006 Olympic bronze medallist.
“But ( Saturday) is another day and conditions and the course could be different. But still it’s a great way to start the second half of the season.”
The top 12 on the first run automatically qualified for the finals. Twelve more spots were available on a second run, which was topped by Maelle Ricker of Squamish in 1: 15.49.
Whistler’s Carle Brenneman and Zoe Bergermann of Acton, Ont., also qualified for finals ranking eighth and 11th on the second run. Four Canadians advanced to finals on the men’s side: Chris Robanske of Calgary and Vernon’s Kevin Hill qualified 15th and 23rd on the first run.
Robert Fagan, also of Squamish, and Baptiste Brochu of Saguenay, Que., qualified on the second run. BERGMANN, KUMMER WIN SLALOMS IN AUSTRIA: German snowboarder Alexander Bergmann won a parallel slalom Friday for his
first World Cup victory, while Patrizia Kummer of Switzerland took the women’s event. Bergmann, who came ninth in Bad Gastein a year ago for his only previous top- 10 result, defeated Andreas Prommegger of Austria in the final of the single- run format.
Aaron March of Italy finished third by beating Sebastian Kislinger of Austria.
In the women’s competition, Kummer defeated Ester Ledecka of Czech Republic for her first win of the season and ninth overall. Marion Kreiner of Austria took third ahead of Ekaterina Ilyukhina of Russia.
Kummer went to the top of the slalom standings with 1,400 points, 150 clear of second- place Ledecka. Caroline Calve of Gatineau, Que., who led before the event, was beaten in qualifying and dropped to fourth.
Several more favourites, including Olympic champions Jasey- Jay Anderson of Lac- Superieur, Que., and Nicolien Sauerbreij, and world champion Isabella Laboeck, also failed to reach the top 16 in qualifying earlier Friday and missed out on the finals. DUKURS BROTHERS FINISH 1- 2 AT SKELETON EVENT:
Martins Dukurs rallied in the second heat to pass his brother Tomass Dukurs and win a World Cup skeleton race on Friday, the second straight 1- 2 finish for the Latvian siblings.
Martins Dukurs finished two runs down the historic St. Moritz track in 2 minutes, 19.18 seconds for his third win in five races this season. Tomass Dukurs’ final time was 2: 19.44.
Matt Antoine of the United States finished in 2: 19.87 to take third, his third medal of the season and solidifying his position as a podium favourite for next month’s Sochi Olympics.
Calgary’s John Fairbairn was the top Canadian in sixth. Calgary’s Eric Nelson was ninth.
Women’s skeleton, women’s bobsled and two- man bobsled takes to the St. Moritz track on Saturday, then another men’s skeleton race and the four- man bobsled competition wraps up the World Cup weekend on Sunday. SOUKALOVA WINS WOMEN’S 15K BIATHLON: Gabriela Soukalova of the Czech Republic won the women’s individual race to extend her lead in the World Cup biathlon standings on Friday.
Soukalova missed only one target and completed the 15- kilometre course in 40 minutes, 32.6 seconds for both victories in this season’s individual discipline. Darya Domracheva of Belarus was second, 34.3 seconds behind with two missed targets, while Veronika Vitkova completed a good afternoon for the Czechs by shooting cleanly for third place, 38.6 seconds behind.
Rosanna Crawford of Canmore, Alta., was the top Canadian in 26th place.