Kevin Drury of Toronto, Ontario won a gold medal on Friday in a World Cup men’s ski cross event in Innichen, Italy. It was one of three medals won by Canadians this past weekend in Italy, as Canadian Olympic gold medalist Marielle Thompson of Vancouver, British Columbia won a silver medal on Saturday in a World Cup women’s ski cross event and Canadian Olympic silver medalist Brittany Phelan of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec won a bronze medal on Friday in a World Cup women’s ski cross event. Thompson won the gold medal for Canada in women’s ski cross at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and Phelan won the silver medal for Canada in women’s ski cross at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
In the Friday World Cup ski cross events, the results from qualification stood due to bad weather. Drury posted a winning time of 1:16.90. He reached the podium by 0.51 seconds over Morgan Guipponi Barfety of France, who had a fourth place time of 1:17.41. Florian Wilmsmann of Germany won the silver medal with a time of 1:17.16. Jonathan Midol of France won the bronze medal with a time of 1:17.25.
Drury leads the World Cup standings in men’s ski cross with 396 points. He leads Canadian Kristofor Mahler of Canmore, Alberta, who is in second place with 302 points. For Drury it was his seventh World Cup medal and fourth World Cup win as he also won in Sunny Valley, Russia on March 4, 2018, in Val Thorens, France on December 6, 2019 and in Arosa, Switzerland on December 17, 2019.
In the women’s ski cross World Cup on Friday, Phelan had a third place time of 1:20.16. She reached the podium by nine one hundredths of a second as Fanny Smith of Switzerland was in fourth place with a time of 1:20.25. Marielle Berger Sabbatel of France won the gold medal with a time of 1:19.90 and Sandra Naeslund of Sweden won the silver medal with a time of 1:20.10.
In the women’s ski cross on Saturday, Thompson won the fourth quarterfinal heat, was second in the semifinal and second in the big final. Fanny Smith of Switzerland won the gold medal and Daniela Maier of Germany won the bronze medal.
Thompson is third in the World Cup women’s ski cross standings with 404 points and Phelan is seventh with 230 points. Sandra Naeslund of Sweden leads with 450 points. The medals for Thompson, Phelan and Drury will give them confidence as they prepare for the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
