Canadian ski cross racer Reece Howden captured gold on Saturday at a World Cup occasion in Gudauri, Georgia, marking his fourth victory and fifth medal of the season.
Countrymate Courtney Hoffos additionally reached the rostrum with a third-place end within the girls’s race.
Howden, a 26-year-old from Cultus Lake, B.C., beat Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann to win the four-man large ultimate. Italy’s Simone Deromedis, who gained Friday’s race, took bronze.
Howden bounced again from a tough begin to the Gudauri World Cup that noticed him eradicated within the first spherical of Friday’s knockout heats.
“I used to be not blissful after yesterday,” Howden mentioned in a press launch. “I wished to essentially make an announcement, and in addition, Deromedis is snowboarding actually quick, and I didn’t wish to give him one other simple win, so I actually laid it down and made positive I left all of it on the course.”
“Racing is tough proper now, the competitors is excessive, all people’s snowboarding actually quick, and you have simply acquired to give attention to the higher days.”
WATCH l Howden tops the rostrum in Georgia:
Howden now has his most wins in a single season since 2021. The 2-time Crystal Globe winner has 27 podium-finishes in 74 profession World Cup races.
Hoffos, who hails from Windermere, B.C., gained her second medal of the season and eighth of her profession. The 27-year-old missed final season because of harm.
Italy’s Jole Galli captured gold forward of Switzerland’s Fanny Smith.
Hoffos confronted challenges after a gradual begin within the semifinal. She trailed behind compatriot India Sherret earlier than finally passing her and securing a spot within the four-woman ultimate.
“It was feeling fairly good on the observe all day, and after India handed me [in the semifinal], I knew I had some work to do, however I constructed up some velocity on the finish and had a little bit of a cheeky move,” Hoffos mentioned.
Cranbrook, B.C.’s Sheret went on to win the small ultimate for a fifth-place end.
WATCH l Hoffos claims World Cup bronze:
Howden’s win moved him into third place within the total World Cup standings with 658 factors. Deromedis (799) and Wilmsmann (700) maintain the highest two spots with 4 races remaining.
Sheret, Friday’s bronze medallist, held onto right here lead within the girls’s total standings with 795 factors, with Marielle Thompson of Whistler, B.C., one spot behind her with 744.
In different Canadian outcomes, Jared Schmidt of Ottawa and Gavin Rowell of Prince George, B.C., did not advance previous the lads’s quarterfinals, whereas Thompson and Edmonton’s Abby McEwen suffered the identical destiny on the ladies’s facet.
The Canadian ski cross staff is about to compete at two extra stops on the World Cup tour, together with a pair of males’s and girls’s races in Craigleith, Ont., from March 12-15.
“Convey your bells and produce your loud voices,” Howden instructed followers forward of the staff’s residence races. We’re excited to come back residence and race in entrance of you guys, and we hope everybody can come out and benefit from the occasion.”
The world championships are set for March 22-23 in Engadin, Switzerland, adopted by the World Cup finals in Idre Fjall, Sweden (March 28-30).