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Anderson goes three for three

Quebec snowboarder wins third world championship title It wasn’t the best season for Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, but it was good enough for the 27-year-old to claim a record third straight overall World Cup title.

Quebec snowboarder wins third world championship title

It wasn’t the best season for Jasey-Jay Anderson of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, but it was good enough for the 27-year-old to claim a record third straight overall World Cup title.

"It’s a great feeling to win the title again," he said. "It wasn’t an easy year and certainly not by best season. But my career is far from over."

Anderson went into the World Cup finals in Arosa, Switzerland last week with his third title safely in the bag, but did not let up in any of the competitions. He won gold in the parallel giant slalom, and finished fifth in the snowboardcross – under considerable protest.

Anderson was furious when Xavier Delerue of France bumped him out of bounds in the semi-final while he was attempting to pass, and believes the push was intentional.

"What Delerue did today was dirty and below the belt," said Anderson. "I’ll remember this. The next time he’s in my path in a race, I’ll move him out of the way, too.

"I don’t think what he did was illegal but you have to respect your opponent in that situation. What he did was potentially dangerous. I was surprised because he’s a guy that often talks about the importance of fair play. I never expected it."

Anderson went on to decimate the rest of the competition in the small final to finish in fifth place. He also consoled himself with the fact that at least the gold medal went to Canadian, Drew Neilson, who edged past Delerue to win his second gold medal of the season.

"I worked hard on getting my strength back in time for this event," said Neilson, who lives in North Vancouver and rides in Whistler. Neilson was out for nearly a month leading up to the World Cup finals with a pelvis injury.

"I’m pretty proud of myself. My start was really on today. In the final I had the outside lane, but I was able to nail the first corner on the top of the bank which put me ahead for good. It’s great to win the opener and the closer for the season. It makes everything in the middle go away."

Anderson finished the tour with 814 points, 226 ahead of Markus Ebner of Germany, and more than 400 points ahead of Lukas Gruener of Austria. He was sixth in the parallel slalom standings, and second in snowboardcross.

The World Cup finals started with the halfpipe on March 13.

In the women’s contest, Whistler’s Mercedes Nicoll was the top Canadian, in seventh place. Lori Glazier, another Whistler rider, was 14 th .

Anna Olofsson of Sweden took the gold medal, followed by Nicola Pederzolli of Austria and Manuela Lara Pesko of Switzerland.

Pesko won the overall World Cup title. For Canada, Natasza Zurek, Mercedes Nicoll, Maelle Ricker and Lori Glazer finished 13 th through 16 th in the standings, while Whistler’s Dominique Vallee and Sarah Kopinya were 27 th and 31 st .

In the final men’s halfpipe, Sergio Berger of Switzerland took the gold, edging out Xaver Hoffmann of Germany and Gary Zebrowski of France. Whistler’s Crispin Lipscomb was the top Canadian in 17 th , followed by Neil Connolly of Calgary in 22 nd .

Hoffmann took the overall World Cup title by a convincing margin, followed by Magnus Sterner of Sweden and Domu Narita of Japan. Lipscomb, who is a rookie with the national team, finished in eighth place overall. Justin Lamoureux of Banff was 23 rd .

In the parallel giant slalom, Ursula Bruhin of Switzerland edged out Maria Pichler of Austria for the gold, and Heidi Neururer of Austria won the small final against Heidi Renoth of Germany. Alexo Loo of Whistler and Aimee Newton of Calgary were the top Canadians in 22 nd and 23 rd respectively.

Anderson edged out Mathieu Bozzetto of France in the men’s PGS, and Dejan Kosir of Slovenia beat Harald Walder of Austria in the small final.

Francois Boivin was 21 st for Canada.

Bozzetto won the overall PGS title with almost twice as many points as Kosir and Markus Ebner of Germany. Jerome Sylvestre of Beauport, Quebec, finished the season ranked 29 th .