Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Sharpes hit podium at X Games

Sports briefs: Mielzynski takes eighth; Freeriders hit Red Mountain podium

The Sharpe siblings unfortunately aren't attending the Olympics together, but they can share some commonalities in 2018.

Both claimed hardware at X Games Aspen 2018, with snowboarder Darcy taking second in slopestyle and skier Cassie snagging third in the superpipe.

Cassie had more than just the course to battle as she injured herself in her first attempt of the competition on Jan. 25. However, she got down to business in her third and final run, scoring an 88.66 to edge out France's Marie Martinod for bronze. Americans took the top two spots, with Maddie Bowman taking gold with 92.00 and Brita Sigourney scoring a 90.33 for silver.

"I tried doing my most difficult run first; my last jump was a cork 10 and I broke my thumb again," Sharpe said in a release. "For my second run, I was still a little shaken. But for the third run, I was back on track and managed to focus on what I needed to do."

Cassie, who has four podium appearances and three wins this season, is set to attend her first Olympics in South Korea later this month.

Younger brother Darcy, meanwhile, scored his first-ever X Games medal in his third time at the Colorado festival. A frontside 1440 nose grab highlighted his run where he hit nearly every rail feature.

Norway's Marcus Kleveland took the win with a 93.66 to defend his title while Canadian Mark McMorris took third with an even 90. Another Canuck, Tyler Nicholson, placed fifth.

Canada took three golds, with snowboarder Max Parrot scoring a 75 on the big air event. Kleveland was second with 73 and Japan's Yuki Kudono was third with a 68.

"I'm super happy to win another gold medal (Friday night) and back up the one from last year," Parrot said in a release. "The contest went really well, it was actually pretty hard. All the guys really threw down. There's been a lot of hard work and I'm happy it paid off again tonight."

The other two golds came courtesy of snowmobiler Brett Turcotte, who won both the speed and style and freestyle events.

Mielzynski takes eighth at Lenzerheide

Canadian skier Erin Mielzynski is looking to go into the Games on a roll.

The Ontarian posted her second top-10 finish of the month at Lenzerheide, Switzerland on Jan. 28, taking eighth in the women's slalom.

Mielzynski was 2.16 seconds back of winner Petra Vlhova of Slovakia who edged Sweden's Frida Hansdottir and Switzerland's Wendy Holdener.

In the Jan. 26 Alpine combined, Canadian Valerie Grenier put up a 15th-place finish, with Holdener taking the win over Italy's Marta Bassino and Slovakia's Ana Bucik.

In men's action in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Ben Thomsen posted the top Canadian result with a 20th in the downhill as Switzerland's Beat Feuz scored the victory with Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr and Italian Dominik Paris tying for second. Whistler Mountain Ski Club alums Manny Osborne-Paradis, Broderick Thompson and Brodie Seger all raced with finishes of 28th, 31st and 43rd, respectively.

Freeriders strong at Red Mountain

The Whistler Freeride Club made its mark at Red Mountain late last month.

The club claimed six medals with a handful of near-misses in Canadian Open action near Rossland on Jan. 20.

Marcus Goguen took the one gold for the team, eking out the victory over teammate Jakob Jewett in the 12-to-14 men's event.

In the men's 7-to-11 event, Floyd Guy earned a second-place finish while Sofia Guy was third in the 12-to-14 women's competition.

In the 15-to-18 women's event, Olivia McNeill and Aoife Gannon were edged out of the top spot, but snagged second and third respectively.

Meanwhile, independent rider Zahra Dimma of Pemberton took third in the 7-to-11 women's event.

Complete results are available at www.freeskiers.org.