Feb 23, 2010
Author: with photos by Dean Seguin and Alexis Boichard/Getty Images
 Cypress Mountain, Vancouver, B.C. – Canada's Ashleigh McIvor won gold in the inaugural Women's Olympic Ski Cross event! Norway's Hedda Berntsen took the silver followed by Marion Josserand of France in bronze. McIvor who hails from Whistler raced brilliantly through the final rounds combining speed and smarts with impressive starts. She won the hole shot in all of her final heats and led from start to finish in every race but one.
"This is just the most amazing thing, the most amazing moment of my entire life," enthused McIvor following her win. "I was just standing in the start gate thinking that everything in my life had led up to this. I was made for this event. It worked out, I can’t believe it! What more could I ask for – winning the Olympics is the icing on the cake! I was really prepared and, looking back at what I wrote in my notebook last summer, if I could just make it to the Olympics, that would be a dream in itself.”
On the podium (left to right) Hedda Berntsen (Norway) silver; Ashleigh McIvor (Canada) gold; Marion Josserand (FRance) bronze. Photo: Dean Seguin
Fellow Canadian Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, B.C. narrowly missed making the final heat of four after leading for most of her semi-final race. A small misstep on one of the later jumps dropped her back to third, yet she was able to battle back only to lose out in a photo finish. Serwa went on to win the consolation "small" final to take 5th place overall. Serwa recorded the 4th fastest qualifications time, while McIvor scored the 2nd fastest.
Julia Murray of Whistler racing just four weeks after undergoing knee surgery bowed out in the quarter finals after struggling under obvious pain and strain to finish 12th overall. "It was quite the run, lots happened," related Murray of her quarter final race. "The start was slower than I thought, and then my knee did things I did not think it would do – it hurt a lot. But it was such a great experience, I’m so glad I made it here!"
Danielle Poleschuk of Calgary also made it through to the quarter finals, but crashed out trying to avoid another racer who went down in front of her. She finished 19th overall. See full results list below.
McIvor with a comfortable lead calmly drops the last jump to take gold. Photo: Dean Seguin
One of the pre-race favourites, Ophelie David of France had one of the most spectacular crashes after going huge off one of the bigger jumps in the 1/8 Finals. McIvor later commented she wasn't even aware that David had crashed out until just before the start of the Finals. In the Finals McIvor said she thought someone was going to pass her all the way down, but she never looked back and just focused on making perfect turns and jumps to stay out front.
WOMEN'S OLYMPIC SKI CROSS FINAL RESULTS 
1. Ashleigh McIvor CAN (Stockli, Oakley, Giro)
2. Hedda Berntsen NOR (Salomon)
3. Marion Josserand FRA (Salomon)
4. Karin Huttary AUT
5. Kelsey Serwa CAN (Atomic, Gabel)
6. Anna Holmlund SWE
7. Fanny Smith SUI
8. Julie Brendengen Jensen NOR
9. Ophelie David FRA
10. Magdalena Iljans SWE
11. Marte Hoeie Gjefsen NOR
12. Julia Murray CAN (Atomic)
13. Jenny Owens AUS
14. Sasa Faric SLO
15. Katya Crema AUS
16. Karolina Riemen POL
17. Anna Woerner GER
18. Katrin Mueller SUI
19. Danielle Poleschuk CAN (Uvex)
20. Heidi Zacher GER
21. Sophie Fjellvang-Soelling DEN
22. Noriko Fukishima JAP
23. Katrin Ofner AUT
24. Andrea Limbacher AUT
25. Julia Manhard GER
26. Katharina Gutensohn AUT
27. Gro Kvinlog Genlid NOR
28. Chloe Georges FRA
29. Franziska Steffen SUI
30. Michelle Greig NZL
31. Rocio Delgado ESP
32. Yulia Livinskaya RUS
Above Photo: Heavy snow did not dampen the enthusiasm of the large Canadian spectator contingent. Credit: Dean Seguin
To view the entire final run visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXW7BXtFix4
|
.jpg){kind=logo}
