Canadian ski-cross queen Marielle Thompson’s reign of terror over Nakiska lives on, as the 22-year-old Olympic medallist won her second straight world cup gold on home soil on Saturday (Dec. 6).
It was the 15th world cup podium of Thompson’s career, and this time she was able to share the steps with fellow Canadian Georgia Simmerling, who took silver for her fourth world cup podium. Fanny Smith of Switzerland finished third.
“I won the overall last season and I was hoping to keep that momentum going. I managed to do that today … it was definitely tight,” Thompson said.
Thompson was untouchable through the heats, breezing through the quarter and semifinals with ease. When she reached the finals against her arch-rival Smith, there was no shortage of contact between the two skiers. The Swiss skier was right on Thompson’s tail, but lost momentum after contact with Thompson, allowing Simmerling to slingshot past her, mid-flight, on the second jump.
“I had no ide whose skis I was skiing on, but on that one turn where I was trying to stay in front, it didn’t really matter who it was. I guess it was going to be Fanny. I was going for the win today and I’m glad it happened,” Thompson said.
Not one to rest on her Olympic gold medal and overall crystal globe title, Thompson said she feels even faster this season
“This whole summer, I’ve been working in the gym and really working on my skiing. I definitely improved from last year, especially my skiing in general. There’s still room for improvement, I’m still young, but I obviously want to be on the podium,” Thompson said.
Simmerling was crafty on course throughout the heats, picking her spots on a course that made passing difficult.
“I made five passes today. I didn’t have super speedy starts, but I was patient and fast on my skis when I was gliding. I knew I could pass whoever was in front of me because I kept coming up on their heels,” she said.
Ever the opportunist, Simmerling sat back in the final and let the two favourites duke it out before she made her move.
“I just let them do their thing. I knew something would happen between those two. They have a pretty big rivalry and I’ve been in third place behind them a few times, and I ended up second. I let that happen and I capitalized,” Simmerling said.
On the men’s side, Dave Duncan had the top skills and skis for the Canadians, finishing fifth. Brady Leman, who won bronze last year at Nakiska, was eighth. Thomas Zangerl of Austria struck gold, followed by Victor Oehling Norberg of Sweden and Armin Niederer of Switzerland.
Duncan blew through the heats, got edged out by Armin Niederer in the semi-final, but surprised himself with a win in the small final.
“Coming out here today, if someone would have told me I would come fifth, I would have bet against myself,” Duncan said. “I’ll take it. I got four good racing heats in today. That will set me up well for the next race.”
Local favourites Tristan Tafel of Canmore and L.P. Helie of Banff made it through qualifiers, but were each eliminated in their first heats. Tafel and teammate Chris Del Bosco skied well, but couldn’t get around Austria’s Robert Winkler.
“I tried to be patient and wait for some opportunities to pass, but Winkler was all over the place. He’s quite sketchy. (Del Bosco) couldn’t get around him, it frustrated him as well. I tried to be patient in the turns, not have contact, but there was nowhere to go,” Tafel said.
This year’s Nakiska course included more jumps, fewer turns and more crashes than years past, as skiers risked everything on the few passing locations.
This was Tafel’s first race on snow in months, so he said qualifying proved he’s still got speed, and he’ll build for even greater results later this month.
“I’m able to rub shoulders with the best internationally. I’ve already faced good adversity. Showing up without any track time this year and being able to qualify and be strong in the heats is good for my confidence,” said Tafel.
“I’ll roll out of this event with the same strategy, keep charging and search for the podium.”
Helie felt he could have moved on if it weren’t for a poor start to his heat. After nailing his starts all week, he flubbed it on race day.
“The two training runs I did this morning, I was really fast out of the start. This time, I completely missed it. I landed on top, my tails got caught. I almost crashed before the first jump, said Helie.
“After that, I was slowly coming back and then the two guys in front got into each other. The one guy fell and I had to avoid him, and then I was too far behind to come back.”
In the end, he saw many of the improvements he made over the summer pay off.
“I’m really happy with my skiing. I’ve improved so much. This course really challenged me. The jumps are big, and I have to press. I worked on that all summer. I’m happy with that, but I definitely wanted a better result,” Helie said.
