Feb 21, 2010
Cypress Mountain, Vancouver, B.C. – Switzerland’s Michael Schmid wins gold in the Olympic debut of Ski Cross. Austria’s Andreas Matt takes silver and Norway’s Audun Groenvold the bronze. In the finals Canada’s Del Bosco jumped out of the start gate in 2nd, but then got hung up on the opening “aztec” jump and dropped back to 4th at the first turn. Del Bosco then skied fast and smooth to catch and pass Groenvold for 3rd, only to crash on the second to last jump as he pressed to catch the leaders.
Chris Del Bosco enroute to his crash in the finals as he goes for broke to catch the leaders.
Photo: Adrian Dennis/Getty Images
Del Bosco, who scored the second fastest time in qualifications, performed brilliantly leading up to the finals, winning the hole shot and his heat in the 1/8 Finals, and then recovering with superior speed after a soft start in the Quarters to advance to the Finals.
Del Bosco leads Tommy Eliasson of Sweden in the quarter finals. Photo: Cameron Spenser/Getty Images
Davey Barr, a last minute entry as Canada's second alternate made it through to the consolation “small” final to take 6th overall. Barr had replaced an injured Brady Leman, who had replaced an injured Dave Duncan, proving the Canadian team’s strong talent depth. Canada’s Stanley Hayer was eliminated in quarter finals and finished 10th. All told, with three Canadians in the top 10 in was the strongest performance of any country, but unfortunately just out of the medals.
“The last 24 hours were pretty insane,” said Barr. “I missed two days of training, so I had to figure the course out as I went through my heats. We have a great team, but in this sport anything can happen. We’ll keep pushing forward and try for another podium sweep in the next events.”
Davey Barr leads Errol Kerr of Jamaica in the quarter finals. Photo: Cameron Spenser/Getty Images
In an emotional press conference following the event, Del Bosco explained his go for broke jump that ended in disaster. "I don't know, third I guess is all right for some people, but I wnated to give 100 per cent for my sport and my country," said Del Bosco, sporting a shiner and cuts to his face from the crash. "I thought I could make a little bit more room up on the bottom, but I couldn't. Sometimes that's how it goes. I left it all out there. I had to go for it!"
Del Bosco's girlfriend and team mate Ashleigh McIvor, says she told him to "chill" before the race, "but I don't think he heard me." McIvor get's her medal shot in the Women's Olympic Ski Cross tomorrow, along with fellow Canadians Julia Murray, Kelsey Serwa and Daniele Poleschuk.
MEN'S OLYMPIC SKI CROSS FINAL RESULTS
1. GOLD – Michael Schmid SUI (Stockli)
2. SILVER – Andreas Matt AUT (Salomon)
3. BRONZE– Audun Groenvold NOR (Stockli)
4. Chris Del Bosco CAN (Atomic, Oakley, Gabel)
5. Enak Gavaggio FRA
6. Davey Barr CAN (Rossignol, Oakley, Giro, Gabel)
7. Scott Kneller AUS
8. Filip Flisar SLO
9. Errol Kerr JAM
10. Stanley Hayer CAN (Stockli, Atomic Boots, Uvex, Leki, Rover)
11. Tomas Kraus CZE
12. Sylvain Miaillier FRA
13. Tommy Eliasson SWE
14. Richard Spalinger SUI
15. Markus Wittner AUT
16. Eric Iljans SWE
4. Eric Iljans SWE
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