Maëlle Ricker's trophy case in Squamish must be quite something to behold. This season alone she has added an Olympic gold medal, four World Cup gold medals and a bronze medal, another guitar and trophy from the Mt. Baker Legendary Banked Slalom, and as of last week at Valmalenco, Italy a World Cup silver medal - a result that also earned her the overall snowboardcross title and crystal globe for 2010 (her second crystal globe in the past three seasons).
There is still one event remaining at La Molina, Spain next weekend, but Ricker's second place finish in Italy put her over the top in the snowboardcross standings. She is also in the lead for the overall crystal globe, and a good result at La Molina will bring that trophy her way as well.
Ricker's teammate Dominique Maltais also finished third in Italy, marking the fifth time this season that the two have shared a World Cup podium. The win went to Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S.
On the men's side the top Canadian was Rob Fagan in ninth, followed by Tom Velisek in 12 th . Alex Pullin of Australia took the win, followed by Mario Fuchs of Austria and Mateusz Ligocki of Poland.
Jasey-Jay Anderson placed third in the men's parallel giant slalom after getting edged out in the semi-finals by Benjamin Karl of Austria. Karl went on to defeat Rok Flander of Slovenia for the gold medal and overall title, while Anderson defeated Simon Schoch of Switzerland for the bronze.
"Third was a good race," said Anderson, who earned an Olympic gold medal in parallel giant slalom the previous week. "The conditions were really good. The track was really nice.
"I was really busy with the post-Olympic frenzy, so I was quite tired when I got back on the (World Cup tour) in Europe and I didn't get to train the first couple of days, so this makes it a great day."
Matthew Morison and Michael Lambert were 11 th and 16 th respectively.
On the women's side the top Canadian was Alexa Loo in 20 th , while the top three spots on the podium went to Nicolien Sauerbreij of The Netherlands, Nathalie Desmares of France and Doris Guenther of Austria.
The final event was the halfpipe. Whistler's Mercedes Nicoll built on her sixth place finish in the Olympics to reach the podium in third, behind Holly Crawford of Australia and Ursina Haller of Switzerland. Teammates Sarah Conrad and Alexandra Duckworth placed fifth and seventh respectively.
"I don't have any more pressure on me now that the Olympics are over," said Nicoll of her seventh World Cup podium. "I feel like I'm riding better than ever. I'm really happy with my current results."
Justin Lamoureux, seventh in the Olympics, placed fourth in the men's halfpipe behind Michal Ligocki of Poland, Roger Kleivdal of Norway and Patrick Burgener of Switzerland.
