Kevin Hill of Chiliwack, British Columbia and Derek Livingston of Scarborough, Ontario have begun the month of March with World Cup snowboarding bronze medals. Hill won the bronze medal in the men’s snowboard cross competition in Baqueira Beret, Spain on March 2 and Livingston won the bronze medal in the men’s halfpipe snowboarding competition in Mammoth Mountain, California on March 9.
In the men’s snowboard cross event, Hill finished behind gold medalist Alessandro Haemmerle of Austria and silver medalist Adam Lambert of Australia. He placed ahead of American Mick Doerdoff to land on the podium.
Hill won the seventh elimination heat and then advanced in the next two rounds when he placed second in the quarterfinals and semifinals behind Haemmerle. He is currently in 15th place in the 2018-19 World Cup men’s snowboard cross standings with 898.2 points. Martin Noerl of Germany leads with 1830 points. This was Hill’s fifth career World Cup medal and first since winning silver in Baqueira Beret, Spain on March 20, 2016. The final World Cup men’s snowboard cross event of the season will be in Veysonnaz, Switzerland on March 16.
In the men’s halfpipe event, Livingston posted a third place score of 86 points. Yuto Totsuka of Japan won the gold medal with 95.75 points. Patrick Burgener of Switzerland won the silver medal with 91.75 points. Livingston reached the podium by 2.25 points over Chase Josey of the United States, who finished in fourth place with 83.75 points. In the World Cup men’s halfpipe standings, Livingston finished in ninth place with 1309.7 points. Totsuka was the World Cup men’s halfpipe snowboarding champion with 3760 points. The medals for Hill and Livingston will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
