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Whistlerites hit New Zealand podium

Sports briefs: Iles heading into World Champs; NAET race cancelled
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CELEBRATION IN CARDRONA Cassie Sharpe and Simon d'Artois marked their podium performances in New Zealand on Sept. 1. Photo by Freestyle Canada coaching staff

The Sharpe family made a formidable duo in Cardrona, New Zealand in recent days.

In FIS World Cup action, Cassie, a skier, slayed the halfpipe en route to a win on Sept. 1 while Darcy, a snowboarder, took second on the slopestyle course on Sept. 4, as both Whistler residents got off to a strong start to the 2017-18 season — an Olympic year, no less.

In Cassie's gold medal win, her first run was strong enough to have her sitting in second at the midway point, behind only Estonia's Kelly Sildaru. However, Cassie pulled out a score of 91.00 on her second run to best Sildaru by 0.8 points.

"The competition was fierce and I knew my second run had to be good. I'm going to keep on training hard this fall so that I can continue to push the limits of the sport," Sharpe said in a release.

On the same day on the men's side, Whistler's Simon d'Artois scored a third-place result with his score of 88.60 trailing only winner Alex Ferreira of the U.S. (93.40) and Kevin Rolland of France (90.20).

"I'm very pleased with a podium win in this event. This is an Olympic year and it increases my chances of qualifying for the team," he said in the release. "Starting the season this way is a real confidence booster. I want to keep on skiing well and I expect to have a good season."D'Artois struggled on his first run with just a 12.80, but put everything together in his second attempt.

Meanwhile, Darcy Sharpe was strong on his board on Labour Day in his first World Cup event since January.

Sharpe was edged out by Norway's Marcus Kleveland, whose tally of 85.58 knocked off the Canadian's 85.33.

After stomping tricks on the rail, Sharpe pulled off tricks like the switch backside double 1260 mute, backside double 1080 mute, and frontside 1080 off toes mute on the jump line.

"It's a very important event leading up to the Olympics so I really had my mind set on landing my run," Sharpe said in a release.

Iles set for World Championships

After an incredible year in which he clinched his second-consecutive UCI Downhill World Cup junior men's overall title early, Finn Iles has something to ride for again.

He'll look to capture his second World Championship in his age group when he lines up in Cairns, Australia on Sunday Sept. 10.

Iles won all but one race this season, including a victory in his most recent race in Val di Sole, Italy on Aug. 26. The 18-year-old bested Great Britain's Matt Walker by over two seconds and France's Sylvain Cougoureux by over eight seconds.

NAET race cancelled

The North American Enduro Tour stop in Whistler has bit the dust, at least for 2017.

Organizers announced on Sept. 4 that the Whistler Classic, originally scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 9 and 10), will not run because of a risk of trail degradation.

"Under the current circumstances, it would be a huge strain on the trails and on our resources to put together a race of the calibre Whistler is known for," said NAET general manager Darren Kinnaird in a release. "We know that travelling to these events requires a great deal of advance planning and effort. In the end, our teams came to this tough decision in order to make sure the trails are protected, and our riders get nothing less than the experience they've come to expect at NAET events — epic racing, great competition, and the coming together of a community in the world's best riding destinations."

The race was originally scheduled for May, but was postponed to this weekend because of snow melt on the mountain.

For more information, visit www.naetmtb.com.