Canada claims silver in snowboard cross

 

Edmonton’s Mike Robertson captured the silver medal in the men’s snowboard cross final on Monday night at the Vancouver Olympics.

American Seth Wescott surged past Robertson in the final turn to take home the gold after watching the Canadian lead for the majority of the race. 

 Wescott, the defending gold medal champion from the Torino Olympics was able to overcome a minor fall during qualifying to defend his title.

Tony Ramoin of France snuck into third place following a hard fall that took American Nate Holland out of contention.

Australia’s Alex Pullin posted the two best times after the initial qualifying round but was unable to advance to the 1/8 final.

Current World Cup rankings leader Pierre Vaultier, of France, could not make it out of the quarter finals despite being a heavy medal favourite.

Canadian’s Drew Nielson, Francois Boivin, and Robert Fagan all advanced through the qualifying rounds.  Fagan was the only other Canadian to make it to the semi finals.

Fagan, was 13th after his first run but had a good second run and ended up finishing in 5th place. 

Had he made the podium he intended to donate half of his earnings to www.kidsport.ca. The organization aims to remove financial barriers that prevent children from participating in organized sports. 

The weather on Cypress Mountain had been terrible up until yesterday.  Mother Nature carried over to today from Canada’s gold medal victory last night in moguls. 

The course was firm, and riders were excited to compete in some of the best conditions yet on the mountain.  The snow remained wet and soggy in places but competitors have noticed significant improvements over the past few days.   

In only its second year as an Olympic event, snowboard cross has attracted a large following. 

The race features 35 riders who take two runs down the course alone to qualify and then face off head to head with four riders going down the course at one time.  High speeds, big air, and borderline dangerous crashes are what make this sport so appealing to fans.

About this article

By: Andrew Garas
Posted: Feb 15 2010 8:11 pm
Edition:
Filed under: Winter Games
Topics: