Quebec’s Jasey-Jay Anderson continues to lead the way for Canada in alpine snowboarding, placing third and fourth in events at the second World Cup of the season at Soelden, Austria.
In the parallel giant slalom on Saturday, Oct. 18, Anderson was first in qualifying and first out of the gates all day to cruise into the semi-finals.
In a heat against Siegfried Grabner of Austria, the two were neck and neck until Anderson says he ran out of a gas towards the end.
Relegated to the small final against Philipp Schoch of Switzerland, Anderson regained his edge and easily beat his adversary to the bronze medal. Schoch had to console himself with the fact that his teammate, Urs Eiselin, went on to win the gold medal against Grabner.
"I was on fire all morning until I got to the semi-finals," said Anderson, 28. "I just ran out of gas in the end. Having 20 competition runs in two days wears you down, but I’m extremely happy with where I stand this early in the season."
In the parallel slalom on Sunday, Anderson once again cruised his way into the semi-finals where he was once again edged out by Grabner. He went on to face Alexander Maier of Austria in the small final, and lost a close race to finish fourth.
Grabner went on to beat Roland Fischnaller of Italy to win the gold medal.
Anderson is a three-time overall world snowboard champion, earning FIS points in alpine events and snowboard cross, where he has held the overall World Cup title twice.
He got off to a slower start last year after beginning the season with a severe concussion, but came on strong in the end to defend his championship title. This season he is already ranked third in the world after three races.
None of the other Canadians racing at Soelden managed to crack the top-30.
