Mostly quiet after a dominating performance at the world championships, the Canadian Snowboard Team made some noise last weekend in Sungwoo, Korea with three medals in the halfpipe.
Whistler’s Crispin Lipscomb won silver in the second men’s event, his first medal this season.
"He did great," said coach Tom Hutchinson. "It wasn’t his best ride but he broke his board in training.
"Since he’s been on the road for a while, he could not get a new one so he had to ride with a broken board. The conditions are often icy, just to complicate the situation for equipment."
Hugo Lemay of Quebec City was 15 th while Brad Martin of Ancaster, Ontario, the top qualifier, settled for 16 th . Justin Lamoureux and Dan Raymond, both from Whistler, were 22 nd and 23 rd , giving the Canadian team five spots in the top-30.
In the first men’s halfpipe, Martin was fourth, Lemay seventh, Lipscomb 10 th , Raymond 17 th and Lamoureux 23 rd . Mathieu Crepel of France, a newcomer to the World Cup, won both events.
Whistler’s Mercedes Nicoll, a Whistler Valley Snowboard Club alumnus, won back-to-back bronze medals behind Manuela Pesko of Switzerland and Mero Narita of Japan.
"I’m not surprised. She’s a great athlete," said Hutchinson. "Yesterday she was sick in her stomach with food poisoning but she still placed first in the qualifying run. When she has something in mind, she goes all the way."
Dominique Vallée of Squamish was 10 th , while Whistler’s Maëlle Ricker and Anne-Marie Gauthier of Quebec were 19 th and 20 th respectively in the first competition.
In the second contest, Vallée was seventh, Gauthier 15 th , and Ricker 20 th .
There was also a parallel slalom contest. Jasey-Jay Anderson and Alexa Loo were both a disappointing 24 th for Canada in the men’s and women’s events. The week before Anderson was fifth in a parallel giant slalom, and he remains in the running for his fifth consecutive overall World Cup title.
