yyzcanuck Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Hi from the last stop on this season’s World Cup circuit. The La Molina event wrapped up and the Canadian team joined the World Cup migration and flew to Milan, picked up a rental car and headed to Valmalenco in the Italian Alps for the World Cup Finals. We took the scenic route and drove along Lake Como and stopped for lunch in Como, hoping to catch a glimpse of George Clooney who supposedly has a home there. We had no success on the celeb-sighting mission, but we did enjoy the best pasta lunch ever! The town of Valmalenco is nestled in the mountains and welcomed us with open arms and a parade through the main square. I received word from Kessler, my board builder, that the replacement board had been made for me to replace the board broken by Swiss Air on the way over to Europe was ready. It was being shipped to a post office in Brusio, Switzerland, an hour drive from Valmalenco. The Italian-speaking region of Switzerland observes Catholic holidays – such as the feast of San Giuseppe. I found this out the hard way after I drove the hour to the Post Office in Switzerland, only to find that it was closed that Thursday in honor of San Giuseppe (Saint Joseph). The ironic thing is: Kessler had sent me the closing dates of the Swiss post offices, but for 2008 and I got it wrong! So, the next morning, I got up early and retraced my steps back to Switzerland and finally got my new board. That day, I managed to pick up my new board, convince Luka to tune it for me, get up the mountain, train and still have time to catch the finals of the Snowboardcross event and watch my teammates: Maelle and Dominique take 1st and 2nd in the women’s race. Sarah Conrad rounded out the medal haul by bringing home 3rd in the Halfpipe event. The last event of the Finals was the PGS race. The slope was perfect, the snow was perfect and the sun was shining. I had a solid first run and placed fourth in my course. On my second qualifying run, I chattered out on a toeside turn, but still managed to qualify in 13th position. In the finals we had: Caro, Jasey, Matt, Michael and me racing for Canada. I went up against Doris Guenther, the World Cup Champion in the first round of the finals. First run: I charged out of the gate and raced her all the way to the finish, but was .17 seconds behind her. For our second run against each other, I caught Doris by having a great start going for broke. I kept pace with her until I slid out on a heelside turn. I recovered quickly and raced after her, but I could not catch her before the finish line. Finishing .38 seconds behind her, I had to concede defeat, settle for 13th place and cheer on my teammates. Caro carved up a storm and rode like a runaway freight train! She managed to beat everyone, except for Germany’s Amelie Kober. We were thrilled for Caro as she stood on her first World Cup podium in Second place! Our whole women’s team managed to get on the podium this year! Jasey had some impressive runs against some extremely driven competitors. In the semi-final round, Jasey raced Austria’s Sigi Grabner and World Cup points leader. At the World Cup Finals, the person who had the best season (measured by their cumulative points won in the season) wins the crystal globe and is crowned the World Cup Champion. Sigi needed to finish in the top 4 to be assured of winning the globe. In their first run against each other, Sigi beat Jasey by .03 seconds. In the second run, they tied! Because Jasey had made up the time difference, he was awarded the win! Because of the great course and the great snow conditions, the riders could really push their limits. It is really impressive to see the best riders in the world pulling out all of the stops in a head-to-head race! Jasey went on to win the finals and take his 3rd victory of the season and improve his World Cup ranking to earn him 3rd place on the overall ranking! Lots of podium pictures and cheering and finally our World Cup season was at an end! Now we have a week off before the team reconvenes in Temblant, Quebec for the North American and Canadian Championships, where I will be defending my titles. Check out the shots: Opening ceremonies at World Cup Finals Me with my lucky charm: made by a Tomekichi Homma student. Regards, Alexa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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