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Ski cross team wins five of six X Games medals

McIvor, Serwa win silver and bronze as men sweep podium

Canada’s ski cross stars used the Winter X Games 14 to make a major statement in the last race before they go for broke in their sport’s Olympic debut.

Three Canadian men swept the X Games ski cross podium on Sunday (Jan. 31) in Aspen, Colo., while Whistler’s Ashleigh McIvor continued her string of success this season by winning silver as Kelowna’s Kelsey Serwa claimed bronze.

Chris Del Bosco of Sudbury, Ont., led the Canadian charge for the first X Games men’s podium sweep by one nation, followed by Golden’s Dave Duncan in second and Calgary’s Brady Leman in third.

McIvor, who has reached the finals in five of seven World Cup races and won four medals so far this season, notched her best-ever X Games result by finishing just behind top-ranked Ophelie David of France. The Whistler racer jumped into the lead out of the start gate and stayed in first for most of the race, but David slipped ahead when McIvor made a minor mistake on a jump.

“This was an awesome course, built with big features and great takeoffs and landings similar to what we’ll see in Cypress. I’ve got some serious confidence right now and I feel like I’m skiing better than I ever have,” McIvor said in a statement.

“It's good to know that I’m competitive out of the start with the top women in the sport. Sure, I was a little disappointed I wasn’t able to hold the lead in the final, but if it’s going to happen then let it be one of the best competitors in ski cross.”

After earning a World Cup win in Lake Placid one week earlier, Del Bosco dominated all day by springing into the lead out of the start gate in every one of his heats. With the Games up next, the winner of last season’s World Cup event on Cypress Mountain sounds ready to roll.

“I am having fun with what I’m doing, and that allows me to ski loose and relaxed. Everything is clicking at the right time, and it feels good,” said Del Bosco, whose personal website declares that his ultimate gold is winning Olympic gold in 2010.

Squamish’s Davey Barr and Aleisha Cline finished fifth in their respective races, having qualified for the six-person finals in the X Games format, while Kimberley’s Stanley Hayer and Winnipeg’s Danielle Poleschuk finished seventh by winning the small finals.

Whistler’s Julia Murray travelled with the team to Aspen to meet doctors and continue rehabilitation on her injured knee. A Canadian Ski Cross Team statement said she “remains positive and continues to focus on racing in the Olympics on Feb. 23.”

Murray suffered a partial ACL tear, a Grade 1 MCL tear and a medial meniscal tear after an injury sustained during training runs for the Lake Placid World Cup.

Canadian Halfpipe Ski Team star Sarah Burke returned to the Winter X Games after breaking her back in a fall in last year’s women’s skiing slopestyle competition, when the event made its X Games debut after Burke fought for it.

Burke returned to the course on Thursday (Jan. 28) for her first slopestyle competition since that day, and went for a huge corked 1260 on the final jump. It marked the first time that trick has been tried in a women’s slopestyle event, according to halfpipe team coach Trennon Paynter, writing in an online account.

She fell on the landing when her ski released, and finished sixth, but Paynter wrote that Burke’s “courage and dedication to continually push the limits of women’s freeskiing was well recognized by the athletes and fans alike.”

Burke’s teammate Rosalind Groenewoud, reached the third step on the podium in Friday’s (Jan. 29) women’s Superpipe final, stepping up her tricks to win her first X Games medal in front of a crowd of more than 20,000 people.

Alberta halfpipe team member Megan Gunning won silver, while Burke finished sixth after falling on the landing of a trick at the bottom of the pipe, dousing hopes for an unprecedented fourth straight victory in the event.

In World Cup competitions last weekend:

• Squamish’s Justin Lamoureux won silver and Whistler’s Mercedes Nicoll finished seventh as the top Canadians in World Cup halfpipe events on Saturday (Jan. 30) in Calgary. Canada made history by hosting the first World Cup snowboard slopestyle finals, where Canadian riders took five of six podium spots, and by hosting two World Cup finals in the same day;

• Calgary’s Alex Gough finished narrowly off the podium with her fourth-place finish in the final luge World Cup event of the season in Cesana, Italy, on Sunday. She finished seventh overall in women’s season standings while Germans swept the top three spots. Calgary’s Sam Edney finished seventh in the men’s race on Saturday, won by two-time Olympic champion Armin Zöggeler;

• Canadian Para-Nordic athletes Collette Bourgonje of Saskatoon and Jody Barber of Smithers won gold and bronze medals, respectively, in IPC World Cup events in Bessan, France, on Sunday. Whistler’s Tyler Mosher finished 16th in his men’s standing race, and Barber also captured a silver medal in the first IPC World Cup biathlon event on the season on Wednesday (Jan. 27).

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