Alpine Canada Alpin – Calgary, Alta. (February 14, 2016) – Whistler, B.C.’s Marielle Thompson captures her fourth World Cup ski cross win of the season today in sunny Idre Fjall, Sweden in the second race of the weekend. Thompson built upon her second-place finish in yesterday’s race, leading her heats all day to finish first for her 13th World Cup ski cross career victory. Anna Holmlund, the women’s ski cross overall World Cup leader, went out in the semi finals giving Thompson room to close the gap in the overall World Cup standings. 

“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,” said Thompson of her performance. “The track was a lot faster today and the weather was perfect. It could not have been a better day!” 

Sweden’s Sandra Naesland finished the women’s final in second-place with France’s Alizee Baron in third-place and Austria’s Katrin Ofner in fourth. 

Thompson wasn’t the only Canadian in the finals today. Berthierville, Que.’s Louis-Pierre Hélie made the big final for the first time in his World Cup ski cross career. Hélie made gains all day battling it out for a spot in the big final and narrowly missed out on a podium finish. Hélie finished the day in fourth-place, a personal best position. 

“It’s fun to be in the finals! It’s been a goal of mine for four years to be in the spot I was today and today I really thought I could win it,” said Hélie of his career-best finish. “I had some good fight in me all day and in the end, I think I was thinking about the podium a little too much. All in all I’m really happy and I stuck to my plan and I was doing what I was supposed to do in most places.” 

Victor Norberg Oehling gave his home crowd something to cheer about finishing first today. Austria’s Thomas Zangerl finished in second-place, Switzerland’s Jonas Lenherr took third with Hélie rounding out the heat in fourth-place. 

The small finals were stacked with Canadians with Calgary, Alta.’s Brady Leman and Montreal, Que.’s Chris Del Bosco on the men’s side and Kelowna, B.C.’s Kelsey Serwa on the ladies’ side. Leman and Del Bosco both led the pack throughout their semi final heats, however they were knocked out over the final rollers to land themselves the small final. Leman and Del Bosco finished fifth and sixth respectively in the small final heat. Serwa battled hard in her heat finishing in seventh-place today. 

It was an exciting day for Canada Ski Cross with all Canadian athletes making it through their first heats of competition on the tough and technical track in Idre Fjall, Sweden. The team now heads to Korea for the first 2018 PeyongChang test event next weekend. 

“I don’t know what to expect in Korea but I’m looking forward to an exciting track,” says Thompson of heading to the next event. “I’m really looking forward to skiing in Asia. I’ve never been so I’m excited to cross this off my list!”

Ladies’ Ski Cross

1 – Marielle Thompson

7 – Kelsey Serwa

Men’s Ski Cross

4 – Louis-Pierre Hélie

5 – Chris Del Bosco

6 – Brady Leman

12 – Kris Mahler

21 – Kevin Drury

24 – Ian Deans

30 – Tristan Tafel

Click here for the official ladies’ results. 

Click here for the official men’s results. 

For further information or press inquiries, please contact Ashley Shantz at ashantz@alpinecanada.org or call 587.226.3007.

 

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