Calgary, Alta. (December 13, 2016) – B.C.’s Marielle Thompson reigns supreme at the Arosa, Switzerland ski cross sprint race today after dominating heat after heat, right through to the big final. The 24-year-old continues to be a major force on the circuit with this being her second World Cup win in three races. In the big final, Thompson was second out of the gate but quickly pulled into first and gained speed the whole way down, taking the win by a big margin. Thompson now has 25 career World Cup ski cross podiums to her name.

“It’s been great to be back on the podium,” said Thompson. “I’m going to keep skiing how I’ve been skiing with everything going according to plan. Today’s race day preparation was a little different since we had all day to prepare for the night race. The atmosphere was great here in Arosa and I’m excited to head to the next stop.”

Thompson stood on top of the women’s podium with Poland’s Karolina Riemen-Zerebecka in second-place and France’s Ophelie David in third-place.

Alberta’s Brady Leman goes back-to-back with second-place finishes in the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup Cross Alps Tour, narrowly missing out on first-place today. This marks Leman’s 17th podium finish of his career. In the semi finals, Leman showed a perfect tactical run, setting up from the back of the pack to slip into second-place and move onto the finals. Leman faced big competition in a field of 32 men, finishing today in second-place.

“It feels good to get on the podium and get some momentum going into the season,” said Leman. “It’s where I expect to be so it feels good to put it together on race day. Today I made some adjustments on the fly today and had some great starts. In today’s semi-final, I wasn’t where I needed to be out of the start but with some good coaching at the bottom, I set up for a pass and made it into the finals. The night race was awesome and the course looked great under the lights.”

Leman battled hard in the big final, crossing the finish line just behind Switzerland’s Romain Detraz who landed his first career World Cup win. Jean Frederic Chapuis finished today’s race in third-place.

Today’s double World Cup podium for Canada ski cross continues the podium streak for the team!

This marks the second leg, and the third competition, of the 2016 Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup Cross Alps tour. Today’s Arosa, Switzerland race was in a sprint race format on a 450m track with a vertical drop of 56m. The track was a highly technical course and rewarded perfection and reaction out of the start, rather than an emphasis on passing. Arosa made history tonight hosting the first nighttime sprint event for the tour.

Second-year Canada Ski Cross national team athlete, Kevin Drury, continues to make gains on the circuit. Making it to the quarter finals, Drury lead part of the way down the course until being knocked into third and missing out on advancing to the next round.

The sprint race format got the best of Ian Deans, Dave Duncan, Georgia Simmerling and Brittany Phelan who were knocked out of the competition in their first heats.

The team heads to Montafon for the next race on the calendar on Saturday.

Canadian ladies’ results

1 – Marielle Thompson

9 – Georgia Simmerling

12 – Brittany Phelan

Canadian men’s results

2 – Brady Leman

10 – Kevin Drury

19 – Dave Duncan

26 – Ian Deans

Full results here.

ABOUT ALPINE CANADA

Alpine Canada is the national governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing in Canada. With the support of valued corporate partners along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee, Alpine Canada develops Olympic, Paralympic, world championship and World Cup medallists to stimulate visibility, inspiration and growth in the ski community.

For further information or press inquiries, please contact Ashley Shantz at ashantz@alpinecanada.org or call (587) 226-3007.