Inspired by teammate Larisa Yurkiw’s phenomenal women’s speed season, where she finished second overall in the downhill, Marie-Michele Gagnon added to Canada’s alpine medal tally with a gold medal in alpine combined, Sunday (Feb. 28) in Soldeu, Andora.
Gagnon moved up 12 spots in slalom after a solid super-G run to secure the win. It’s the second alpine combined medal of her career – the other coming in 2014 in Altenmarkt, Austria.
Gagnon finished .22 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Wendy Holdener, and .061 seconds ahead of France’s Anne-Sophie barthet.
Candace Crawford of Toronto also broke through with a great result, finishing ninth overall for the best world cup result of her career. Marie-Pier Prefontaine was 28th to round out the Canadians.
The men’s team didn’t quite have the same success this weekend in Hinterstoder, Austria. After Erik Guay and Manuel Osborne-Paradis both landed in the top 10 last week, Morgan Pridy was the fastest Canadian in Saturday’s super-G, finishing 37th.
Canmore’s Trevor Philp started Friday’s giant slalom race in Austria, but failed to qualify for a second run.
In ski cross, Kelsey Serwa landed on the podium again, finishing second at the first ski cross test event in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Serwa needed a pair of photo finishes to reach the final, but knew exactly what to do once she reached the final.
“I raced smart and had fun. It’s been helpful to race here and help me build confidence for the next time we’re back, in 2018,” Serwa said.
Marielle Thompson was dominant all day, destroying the competition in the heats. However, in the final, she clipped a ski and crashed through the finish line, ending the day in fourth.
Kevin Drury was fastest on the men’s side. He finished fourth for the best result of his young career. Banff’s Louis-Pierre Helie had a strong day and ended up in eighth spot. Chris Del Bosco was 15th, Brady Leman 18th and Ian Deans 21st to round out the Canadian field.
The team now heads to Arosa, Switzerland to finish its world cup season.
