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Ricker claims her gold

Scary moment in qualifying but Whistler rider dominates Olympic snowboardcross finals
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Maelle Ricker was already a champion. In her career as a snowboarder she has won nearly every snowboard cross event there is to win - World Cups (13 of them), World Cup titles (2008 and maybe 2010 as well), X Games titles (three of them now). Less than two weeks before the Olympics she won the Legendary Mt. Baker Banked Slalom for the fourth consecutive year.

And Tuesday at Cypress, an Olympic gold medal.

It doesn't get any better. There were celebrations in the streets of Whistler, where Maelle grew up. There were celebrations in Squamish, the town Ricker - and half a dozen other members of the national team - now call home.

But while her afternoon was golden, there's no question it was an emotional roller coaster day for the 31-year-old veteran and for millions of fans.

Ricker washed out in the first qualifying run and wouldn't have qualified as one of the top 16 if organizers had held only one qualifying run, as they were rumoured to be considering because of the fog delays. Luckily there was a second run and Ricker laid down the third-fastest qualifying time of the day, behind Mellie Francon of Switzerland and Lindsey Jacobellis of the U.S.

Teammate Dominique Maltais did not have any luck, going off course on both of her qualifying runs - an improbable finish for a competitor who has been on four World Cup podiums this season, sharing all of them with Ricker.

But once the competition entered the elimination rounds it was Ricker's show. She won all her heats by huge margins and found herself in the finals against Deborah Anthonioz of France, Olivia Nobs of Switzerland and Helene Olafsen of Norway.

In the semi-finals Ricker faced Lindsey Jacobellis, the Olympic silver medalist from 2006 and favourite to win. Ricker managed to get the hole shot right from the start. Jacobellis tried to catch her on the second turn, went too high and caught an edge while trying to compensate. Her momentum carried her out of bounds and through a gate panel, ending her day early.

In the finals Ricker led from the start again and created such a huge gap that television cameras were focused mainly on the battle for second. Anthonioz claimed the silver medal and Nobs the bronze.

And the rest is history. Just as mogul skier Alexandre Bilodeau was the first Canadian to win Olympic gold at home, Ricker is the first female competitor to win that honour.

"I just tried to keep it exciting," joked Ricker of her slow first qualifying run. "That was a heartbreaking first run. I just went back to the start and refocused on my lines, visualizing all the stuff we'd been training all week, all year, the last few years really. I just set out to stay on my feet and get into the finals."

Once she was safely in the quarterfinals, Ricker started feeling more like herself.

"I was definitely feeling more comfortable, the course was getting more fun to ride. All I was thinking was get out of the start gate as fast as possible so I could get my lines and the run I wanted."

Of course reporters had to bring up the 2006 Olympic Winter Games where Ricker was chasing down Jacobellis in the middle of the course, then lost control on a corner and crashed through a fence. She finished her day in a hospital but still claimed fourth place, one spot behind Maltais.

While Ricker has had some of her best seasons since that mistake, it was always on her mind.

"Turin was such a motivator," she said. "It just made me work that much harder and just go for it today."

Ricker said she had a lot of people to thank, starting with her parents Karl and Nancy for getting her into sport at a young age, her brother Jörli for teaching her to snowboard, her teachers growing up in Whistler, her friends, her teammates, her coaches, Canada Snowboard and Own The Podium for the additional support in recent years.

The Cypress course was big and burly with a variety of technical jumps, tough rhythm sections and corners wide enough for passing. It was built to be the kind of course that the Canadians prefer, but it nearly backfired in the qualifier.

For her part, Maltais said she was disappointed but was proud she was pushing herself to the limit when she went off course.

"I wanted to leave it all on the course. I didn't want to walk away feeling that I didn't push myself," she said. "I didn't win, but I'm not going to freak out as long as I know I did everything I can."

Maltais said her confidence was shaken after some crashes in training, including a bad one that left her spitting blood. "I didn't like what I saw and it freaked me out a bit," she said. "I'm all right, it's boardercross, and it's rough.

"I'm really happy for Maëlle, really stoked. It's so fun for her and she really deserved it."

Ricker is currently ranked first overall on the World Cup snowboardcross circuit (Maltais is third) and has been on the podium in four out of five races this season.

As for Jacobellis, there was some question of whether she locked boards with Ricker just before going out of bounds while attempting a pass. Ricker said she didn't feel any contact and had no idea where or how Jacobellis went out of bounds.

"I just landed a little front-footed off the first major jump and major turn. I feel okay though," Jacobellis said. "Sometimes you can't control the things you want to."

At the post-race press conference Jacobellis's infamous grab before she crashed in 2006 came up, as well as the fact that she grabbed her board several times on race day. She said before that it was a technique she uses to centre herself over her board, but her frustration started to show in the media.

Jacobellis, who has won two overall World Cup titles, said it was unfortunate to have bad luck in two Olympics.

"It's unfortunate that the rest of the world sees just this race and four years ago," she said. "I don't have a good track record with the general public."

But all's well that ends well at Cypress Mountain. Some 4,000 fans with tickets to the standing area were not able to attend because of the deteriorating snowpack, but the more than 3,500 fans that packed the bleachers saw an incredible show.

Leaving Cypress in the afternoon was icing on the cake. Spectators arrived in fog, unsure whether the events would even take place and left with clear skies and a sunset turning the city gold. In the sky above a sliver of moon was smiling.