Ski Cross: Canadians dominate home course

The 2010 Olympic ski cross course got a test drive Friday night when the ski cross World Cup made its fifth stop of the season in Cypress, B.C. The home team looked strong on the familiar course, as Canadians took five of six podium spots.

Racers arrived in Canada after a two-week break following the X Games in Aspen, Colo., where Canadian Stanley Hayer took home the gold. He was back on the podium Friday night, this time part of a Canadian sweep of the men’s podium with a silver medal around his neck. Christopher DelBosco secured his first career World Cup win and Davey Barr rounded out the podium in third.

The win puts DelBosco in second in the World Cup ski cross standings behind ski cross leader Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic who finished Friday’s race in fourth place.

Casey Puckett led the Americans in sixth place. It was his third top-ten finish of the World Cup season, and places him in fourth in the standings.

“Casey was skiing really well. He just, unfortunately, couldn’t get out of the start very fast,” said U.S. ski cross head coach Tyler Shepherd. “He made some really good passes and he got lucky.”

Fellow American Daron Rahlves was taken out in a crash after tangling Canadian Dave Duncan with in the opening round and disqualified. “He completely took out my line,” said Rahlves of Duncan. “As we came into the final tabletop he leaned into me, elbowed me and completely took me out.”

“Daron was fighting the whole way,” said Shepherd. “I thought he was going to make the pass but there was some questionable contact. It’s tough to say what would have happened but I think he was skiing well enough to make the pass and he should have been moving on.”

The Canadian women were also successful at home, taking the top two spots. Aleisha Cline grabbed the victory for her third career World Cup win, followed by teammate Ashleigh McIvor. Austrian Karin Huttary broke up the all-Canadian sweep in third place.

World Cup leader Ophelie David of France crashed while leading the final, alnding her in fourth.

Americans Caitlin Ciccone (32nd) and Langley McNeal (33rd) finished just out of the World Cup points.

Shepherd’s squad took full advantage of familiarizing themselves with the Olympic course. And they liked what they saw. “The course is really really good. It’s very challenging,” said Shepherd. “The start is something different that we’ve never really seen. We have some work to do to figure out how we can address and figure out this terrain a little bit. If we’re going to get these kicky style jumps next year we certainly want to get some practice on them.”

The World Cup action continues today in Cypress with men’s and women’s moguls competitions.

The World Cup ski cross tour now goes to Norway and Sweden before the World Championships in Inawashiro, Japan in early March.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Cypress Mountain, BC – Feb. 6, 2009
Ski Cross

Men
1. Chris DelBosco, Canada
2. Stanley Hayer, Canada
3. Davey Barr, Canada
4. Thomas Kraus, Czech Republic
–
6. Casey Puckett, Aspen, CO

Women
1. Aleisha Cline, Canada
2. Ashley McIvor, Canada
3. Karin Huttary, Austria
4. Ophelie David, France

The 2010 Olympic ski cross course got a test drive Friday night when the ski cross World Cup made its fifth stop of the season in Cypress, B.C. The home team looked strong on the familiar course, as Canadians took five of six podium spots.

Racers arrived in Canada after a two-week break following the X Games in Aspen, Colo., where Canadian Stanley Hayer took home the gold. He was back on the podium Friday night, this time part of a Canadian sweep of the men’s podium with a silver medal around his neck. Christopher DelBosco secured his first career World Cup win and Davey Barr rounded out the podium in third.

The win puts DelBosco in second in the World Cup ski cross standings behind ski cross leader Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic who finished Friday’s race in fourth place.

Casey Puckett led the Americans in sixth place. It was his third top-ten finish of the World Cup season, and places him in fourth in the standings.

“Casey was skiing really well. He just, unfortunately, couldn’t get out of the start very fast,” said U.S. ski cross head coach Tyler Shepherd. “He made some really good passes and he got lucky.”

Fellow American Daron Rahlves was taken out in a crash after tangling Canadian Dave Duncan with in the opening round and disqualified. “He completely took out my line,” said Rahlves of Duncan. “As we came into the final tabletop he leaned into me, elbowed me and completely took me out.”

“Daron was fighting the whole way,” said Shepherd. “I thought he was going to make the pass but there was some questionable contact. It’s tough to say what would have happened but I think he was skiing well enough to make the pass and he should have been moving on.”

The Canadian women were also successful at home, taking the top two spots. Aleisha Cline grabbed the victory for her third career World Cup win, followed by teammate Ashleigh McIvor. Austrian Karin Huttary broke up the all-Canadian sweep in third place.

World Cup leader Ophelie David of France crashed while leading the final, alnding her in fourth.

Americans Caitlin Ciccone (32nd) and Langley McNeal (33rd) finished just out of the World Cup points.

Shepherd’s squad took full advantage of familiarizing themselves with the Olympic course. And they liked what they saw. “The course is really really good. It’s very challenging,” said Shepherd. “The start is something different that we’ve never really seen. We have some work to do to figure out how we can address and figure out this terrain a little bit. If we’re going to get these kicky style jumps next year we certainly want to get some practice on them.”

The World Cup action continues today in Cypress with men’s and women’s moguls competitions.

The World Cup ski cross tour now goes to Norway and Sweden before the World Championships in Inawashiro, Japan in early March.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Cypress Mountain, BC – Feb. 6, 2009
Ski Cross

Men
1. Chris DelBosco, Canada
2. Stanley Hayer, Canada
3. Davey Barr, Canada
4. Thomas Kraus, Czech Republic
–
6. Casey Puckett, Aspen, CO

Women
1. Aleisha Cline, Canada
2. Ashley McIvor, Canada
3. Karin Huttary, Austria
4. Ophelie David, France