Canadian Olympic gold medalist Marielle Thompson of North Vancouver, British Columbia and Reece Howden of Chilliwack, British Columbia each won a gold medal on the weekend during a World Cup ski cross competition in Val Di Fassa, Italy. Thompson won on Saturday, and Howden won on Sunday. Also in Saturday’s women’s ski cross event, Courtney Hoffos of Invermere, British Columbia won bronze.
Thompson beat silver medalist Marielle Berger Sabbatel of France to the finish line in the big final. Hoffos and Thompson won the third and fourth quarterfinal heats respectively. Then in the second semifinal, Thompson and Hoffos placed first and second respectively. Two Canadians were actually guaranteed to be on the podium after the semifinals. That is because India Sherret of Cranbrook, British Columbia, who finished fourth in the big final, won the first semifinal.
In the World Cup women’s ski cross standings. Thompson, who won the gold medal in women’s ski cross at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, now leads with 710 points. Sherret is in second with 690 points and Hoffos is in eighth place with 337 points.
Thompson now has 73 World Cup women’s ski cross medals, of which 36 medals are gold. Hoffos has now won six World Cup medals. She has won two silver medals and four bronze medals.
Howden beat silver medalist Simone Deromedis of Italy and bronze medalist Ryan Regez of Switzerland. Howden won the first first round heat, finished second to Federico Tomasoni of Italy in the first quarterfinal heat, and second to Deromedis in the first semifinal heat.
In the World Cup men’s ski cross standings, Howden is in third place with 542 points. He is only behind Deromedis, who leads with 639 points, and Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann, who is second with 620 points. Howden has now won 25 World Cup medals (14 gold medals, seven silver medals and four bronze medals).
