Magical Maltais dominates in Andorra
After posting the fastest time in qualifying a day earlier, Olympic medallist Dominique Maltais took the snowboard cross gold medal at a World Cup event in Andorra on Saturday.
Maltais finished ahead of Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria. American Lindsey Jacobellis took the bronze medal. Maltais credited her fast start for reaching the top step of the podium.
“I knew that the one who was going to win the start would have a perfect run all the way through from the quarterfinals to the big finals and I went for it,” Maltais said post-race to fis-ski.com.
“I wanted to be very aggressive all the way down from the start. In the end, that’s what I did and I am really happy to have reached that objective.”
The result comes during another dominant weekend for Team Canada in winter sports on the international stage.
Maltais – a 2006 Olympic bronze medallist – has yet to be officially named to the Canadian Olympic Team for Sochi, but the formal nomination should take place in her native province of Québec on January 21.
Currently, Maltais leads the ladies’ snowboard cross World Cup standings.
Defending Olympic champion in snowboard cross, Maëlle Ricker, has already been nominated to Team Canada. Ricker was eighth in Andorra.
