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Big finish for Canadian snowboard team

Lipscomb on top of podium, Ricker takes overall snowboardcross title

All’s well that ends well for the Canadian Snowboard Federation, with World Cup athletes picking up momentum in recent weeks and winning medals in alpine, freestyle and snowboardcross events at the World Cup Finals in Valmalenco, Italy.

Whistler’s Maëlle Ricker secured the overall snowboardcross title the previous week in Stoneham, Quebec by earning a silver medal behind Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S., who finished a close second in the overall standings. Jacobellis opted to skip the World Cup finals for a pro event, missing her chance to overtake Ricker in the standings.

It’s a good thing, as the last race went a little sideways for Ricker, who placed 11 th . Teammate Dominique Maltais placed third behind Sandra Frei of Switzerland and Bulgarian Alexandra Jekova.

“I’m disappointed with myself for sure,” said Ricker, who was hoping for a showdown with Jacobellis at the World Cup finals. “This wasn’t the way I wanted to celebrate winning the crystal globe. But then, I guess you can’t win them all.”

Ricker did, however, win three races, and three silver medals in eight regular season events.

No Canadians made the men’s finals. The top racer was Whistler’s Derek Wintermans in ninth, followed by Simon Bonenfant in 10 th , Rob Fagan in 14 th , and Tom Velisek in 20 th . Drew Neilson, who won the globe for Canada last year, did not race.

In the halfpipe, Crisipin Lipscomb — revitalized after winning the top prize in the Sapient Showcase Showdown — climbed to the top of the podium for the first time since he broke his collarbone at the end of last season. Lipscomb has struggled on the World Cup circuit this winter and opted to miss the last event in Quebec to take a break from competition and work on his riding. It turned out to be the right decision.

“I went in to Italy with the intention of doing well, and this confirms to me that I made the right choice,” he said.

Lipscomb has always had the skills and tricks to win — he’s one of the few athletes to land a 1440 spin in a competition — but on the World Cup even one small mistake can cost you a chance at the podium. In Italy, he toned down the difficulty level of his tricks slightly, pushed his airs a little higher, and tried to land everything perfectly.

“That was kind of the plan,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been doing the big spins — front 10s (1080 spins), back 10s, front 12s (1260 spins), but I thought it was better to stick to what’s working because the halfpipe was a bit of a challenge with the conditions.

“I noticed after my first run of qualifying that the judges were burning guys for landing flat and rewarding good pipe use, so I did every trick precisely to the top of the wall, and went a little bigger than everyone else.”

Lipscomb said he was inspired by the performances of his teammates — Maëlle Ricker for bringing home the overall World Cup title in snowboardcross, and Matthew Morison winning gold in the parallel giant slalom.

“We wanted to be a part of that celebration, and get our own results,” he said.

At the same time, Lipscomb said there’s constant pressure from within the team itself. Six different members of the men’s halfpipe team have made the top-five this season, and some strong rookies are waiting in the wings.

“It’s really happening, all the older guys are really getting pushed by the young ones, and the young ones are really charging. It’s a healthy situation for Canada,” he said.

As to whether Canada can contend at the Olympics, where U.S. riders have won five of six medals on the men’s side in the past two Games, Lipscomb is feeling confident.

“We have so much depth right now, which was something we’ve been missing a little in the past and that the Americans have always had,” he said. “I think we can (compete) and I hope we can.”

Lipscomb decided to miss the U.S. Open this week to make an appearance at a family event for the Family Channel, but will be back in action the following weekend at the national championships. After that it’s the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival, where he’ll be competing in big air and superpipe contests.

Whistler’s Ryan Rausch was eighth in Italy — not bad for his fourth ever World Cup appearance — while Brad Martin, a gold medalist at a World Cup in Calgary this year, was 11 th .

“It’s so great to finally make the finals,” said Rausch. In the last few World Cup events, where only the top-12 move to the finals from the qualifier, Rausch has placed 13 th .

Jeff Batchelor, who is the top-ranked Canadian this year, in third place overall, passed on the finals to prepare for the Burton U.S. Open this weekend. Also in the top-12 of the season’s final standings, Brad Martin was fifth, Justin Lamoureux ninth, and Lipscomb 11 th .

On the women’s side the top Canadian was Whistler’s Katie Tsuyuki in 16 th . The win went to Manuela Laura Pesko of Switzlerand, followed by Querait Castellet of Spain and Zhifeng Sun of China. Most of the top Canadian athletes, including Sarah Conrad and Mercedes Nicoll, passed on the finals for the U.S. Open.

In the final parallel giant slalom, Ontario’s Matthew Morison cruised to his second gold and fourth medal of the season. In each of his 10 rounds of racing — five heats of two runs each — Morison finished at least a gate ahead of his rivals.

“Every run I made today was 98 per cent,” said Morison, explaining his strategy. “I was holding my line, maintaining my speed and carrying momentum through every turn. But I wasn’t pushing the pace so hard that I was putting myself in danger. Although the course got tougher and tougher as the day progressed, I just kept feeling stronger and stronger.”

The next event for the team, aside from the U.S. Open, is the Canadian Snowboard Nationals April 4-5, taking place at the 2010 Olympic venues at Cypress Mountain.