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Whistler's Finn Iles finishes Top 3 in World Cup overall rankings

Junior riders Jackson Goldstone and Gracey Hemstreet each take top spot in junior World Cup standings

While it wasn't the end to the dream season many fans were expecting for Finn Iles, the Whistler product still made history, becoming just the second-ever Canadian to finish on the World Cup overall podium with his third-place finish.

Iles—who was unable to race in the last World Cup stop of the year in Val di Sole, Italy on Sunday following a heavy crash at last weekend's World Championships in Les Gets, France—finished the year just 12 points out of second place with 996. French riders Amaury Pierron and Loris Vergier finished the year in first and second, respectively.

This year Iles cemented himself as one of the world's best riders with four podium finishes and an additional two top-10 finishes.

Iles' year started off on a great note, snagging a second-place finish in Lourdes, France. Unfortunately, he had to pull out of the year's second World Cup race in Fort William due to a concussion. However, upon his return, Iles continued his hot start to the season with sixth-, second-, and third-place finishes in the next three races in Leogang, Austria, Lenzerheide, Switzerland, and Vallnord, Andorra, respectively.

After a ninth-place finish in Snowshoe, West Virginia, Iles made history at the next stop in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, where he became the first Canadian to win any World Cup race since Stevie Smith's historic 2013 season.

While Pierron was almost guaranteed to finish first in the overall standings heading in to the last race of the 2022 World Cup circuit in Val di Sole, Iles was not mathematically eliminated from taking the overall win. However, even though he was holding down second place in the standings for most of the year, Iles' DNS was just enough for Vergier to leapfrog him in the standings.

Meanwhile, Pemberton's Lucas Cruz finished as the top Canadian in the field in 13th-place. In his second year racing in the Elite category of the World Cup circuit, this finish marks the older Cruz brother's best finish as a pro.

On the junior side of things, Squamish's Jackson Goldstone and Sechelt's Gracey Hemstreet each finished the year in first place in the overall standings with 440 points. Goldstone wrapped up the year, which saw him take five first-place finishes and two seconds, with a fourth-place finish in Val di Sole. Meanwhile, Hemstreet ended the year on a high note, taking her fifth win of the season in Italy. On top of her five firsts, Hemstreet also took two third-place finishes and a second, and finished the year without missing a single podium.

Capping off his first full season on the junior World Cup circuit, the younger Cruz brother, Tegan, finished just off the overall podium in fourth place with 227 points after an 11th-place finish in Val di Sole despite battling a shoulder injury. Whistler's Wei Tien Ho also found himself inside the top 15 of the overall standings despite only racing in five of the eight World Cup events.