Sport Shorts: Golden Weekend for Ski Cross
Ski cross: Kelsey Serwa capped off an excellent season with a gold medal in ski cross in Lake Placid, New York. She is on a roll now heading into Vancouver 2010, reaching the top-10 in the past four events. Not to be outdone, her teammate on the men’s side, Chris Del Bosco, won gold on Sunday as well. You could say that is two-for-two. Dave Duncan needed a top-5 finish to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games. His bronze medal can be considered “rising to the occasion.”
Canada has a real shot at multiple ski cross Olympic medals as seven tremendous athletes have qualified to race on the hills of Cypress Mountain next month. They are: Duncan, Serwa, Ashleigh McIvor, Julia Murray, Danielle Poleschuk and Stanley Hayer.
Snowboard: That halfpipe star from Oakville, Ontario was at it again on Friday. Jeff Batchelor proved he will be a force in Vancouver 2010, winning silver at a World Cup in Stoneham, Que. Justin Lamoureux (Squamish, B.C.) just missed the podium in 4th spot. Sarah Conrad (Halifax), Mercedes Nicoll (Whistler) and Dominique Vallee (Squamish) finished 4th, 5th and 6th on the women’s side.
Alpine: For the first time ever, four Canadian technical skiers all finished in the top-15 at a World Cup. Mike Janyk (Whister) was 5th in slalom (matching his season best), followed by Julien Cousineau (Lachute, Que.) in 11th and Calgarians Brad Spence 12th and Trevor White 14th. Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., finished a strong 5th in super-G on Friday.
Biathlon: Brendan Green (Hay River, N.W.T.) cracked the top-15 for the first time in his career, finishing 14th in pursuit at a World Cup in Antholz, Italy. Teammate Zina Kocher (Red Deer, Alta.) continued her fine form of late, also finishing 14th in pursuit.
Skeleton : Jon Montgomery slid to a solid 5th-place finish at a skeleton World Cup in Igls, Austria. He is now ranked No. 5 in the world and last year won a World Cup event at the Olympic venue in Whistler. Toronto’s Mike Douglas was 10th and Calgary’s Jeff Pain was 11th.
Bobsleigh : Canadian Football League star Jesse Lumsden continued his Olympic preparations in his newfound sport of bobsleigh. Under the tutelage of legend Pierre Lueders – and riding with him in two-man – Lumsden finished 8th at a World Cup. They were concerned more with getting in sync and testing equipment than with the podium. Lyndon Rush and Lascelles Brown were 10th.
Nordic Combined: Canada’s top talent in this sport, Jason Myslicki, finished a very respectable 30th in the Gundersen HS96/10.0 Km event at a World Cup in Schonach, Germany.
