Thompson wins, Canada claims three ski cross World Cup podium spots in Sweden
Sunday success in Sweden arrived for Marielle Thompson when she won the women’s ski cross event, her second FIS World Cup podium in as many days at Idre Fjall.
The Canadian was second to Swede and current world leader in points Anna Holmlund on Saturday (more on this below), a position Thompson improved on in the second race, beating the field for her fourth win on the circuit this season.
Marielle Thompson (centre) on the podium in first place at the World Cup in Idre Fjall, Sweden on February 14, 2016.
“I tried to ski my best all day today and be patient with the course. There were opportunities to make big moves on the bottom portion of the track which I capitalized on a couple times today,” Thompson said in an Alpine Canada release. She has closed in on Holmlund in the overall standings (815 points to 607) but poor snow conditions is threatening to shorten the season, which makes the task very tough.
“The track was a lot faster today and the weather was perfect. It could not have been a better day.”
Thompson beat Sandra Naeslund of Sweden (Saturday’s third place finisher) for first in a final that also included third place finisher Alizee Baron (France). Her other wins this season came in Montafon, France; Watles, Italy; and on Canadian snow in Nakiska, Alberta.
RELATED: Serwa surpasses expectations in return
Additional podium results for Canada saw Chris Del Bosco finish second in the men’s event on Saturday. On Sunday, three Canadian men were fourth (Louis-Pierre Helie), fifth (Del Bosco) and sixth (Brady Leman) respectively, showing the ski cross team’s prowess near the top end of competition. It was Helie’s best-ever finish in the World Cup circuit.
Saturday, February 13
Canadians training at Idre Fjall, Sweden (Photo: Bucholz/FIS Freestyle).
After showing their merit at X Games Aspen, Canadian ski cross racers are back on the World Cup circuit and onto podiums with a pair of top three finishes on Saturday in Sweden.
Olympic champion Marielle Thompson saw her streak of two consecutive World Cup wins come to an end, finishing second to Sweden’s Anna Holmlund in front of her home crowd.
RELATED: Thompson wins in Nakiska
Marielle Thompson (left) stands on the Idre Fjall World Cup podium in second place next to Anna Holmlund of Sweden on February 13, 2016.
The win helped Holmlund to pad her lead atop the overall leaderboard where she has 770 points to 507 from second place Thompson, who missed a portion of this season due to injury.
Another Swede, Sandra Naeslund, was third in the women’s final.
Chris Del Bosco was back on a men’s podium in ski cross for the first time since December in Val Thorens, finishing second on Saturday to Slovakia’s Filip Flisar. Austrian skier Christoph Wahrstoetter was third in Idre Fjall, located in central Sweden near the Norway border.
Chris Del Bosco during a training run in Nakiska, Alberta on January 20, 2016.
Del Bosco’s season had started triumphantly with two straight World Cup wins before going third in the second race at Val Thorens (the French venue hosted two World Cups).
Similarly, Idre Fjall will hold a second World Cup competition on Sunday.
The World Cup season had a slight break where skiers competed in the return of skier x in Aspen for the X Games – the spiritual home of this modern skiing discipline.
Thompson was second to national teammate Kelsey Serwa in Aspen and Del Bosco was third with another Canadian, Brady Leman, winning the X Games men’s skier x title.
