SKI CROSS:

Serwa leads Canadian sweep in ski cross

March 12, 2010 — SRC Staff Report     ►Photo: Kelsey Serwa (John Evely); home page, Serwa in action (www.serwa.com)     

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GRINDELWALD, Switzerland — Kelsey Serwa led a sweep of women’s World Cup ski cross Friday, with Olympic gold medallist Ashleigh McIvor placing second and Danielle Poleschuk taking third.

Aleisha Cline was 17th for the Canadians.

On the men’s side, Audun Groenvold of Norway won, ahead of Swiss athlete Michael Schmid and Canada’s Chris Del Bosco.

Stanley Hayer was eighth, Nick Zoricic 17th, Brian Bennett 22nd and Davey Barr 24th.

Schmid leads Del Bosco by 178 points in the ski cross standings with two events left, starting Sunday at Meiringen, Switzerland. A win is worth 100 points.

Canada became the first nation to sweep the podium in a women’s ski cross event.

“Today the girls had a lot of fun,” Canadian head coach Eric Archer said. “It was one of those days where the sun was out and the course was good. It was like a training day at Powder King because it was almost all Canadians in the final. They were hooting and hollering and talking to one another down the course, it was a lot of fun to watch!”

For the third time this season, Serwa stood on the top step of the podium, as she demonstrated once again that she is a rising star in women’s ski cross. In a close final that saw a lot of pressure from her teammates, Serwa was able to finish the course less than a ski length ahead of McIvor.

“I was so glad that the Canadian gals were able to get the finals,” said Serwa. “I was in the bottom heat and Ashleigh and Danie were in the top heat so I didn’t see them till I was coming up for the final. I was so excited when I got to the top and saw that they still had their bibs on and they saw that I still had my bib on. I just kept thinking how awesome and how much fun it was going to be to actually get to race together!”

In her second World Cup event since winning gold at the Vancouver Olympic Games, McIvor made her fifth trip to the podium this season, as she was just edged out by Serwa. The result put McIvor within 27 points of series leader Ophelie David of France for the overall title.

“I was pretty close to caching her [Serwa],” said McIvor, “definitely within a ski length. I tried passing her a couple of times, I even had my tips on her tails at one point, I kept trying to pull out but I didn’t quite get her.” 

Poleschuk had a career-best day in third place. “This being my first podium it’s pretty cool, but to be standing there with Ashleigh and Kelsey, that was really cool!” said Poleschuk.

Del Bosco, still battling illness, was able to advance to the quarterfinals after winning his first heat. It was there that he met up with Schmid of Switzerland, and the two advanced together to the finals, where they met up with eventual winner Groenvold of Norway. Friday’s finish marks the third consecutive World Cup podium for Del Bosco and fourth time he has been on the podium this season. France's Ophelie David has a 38-point lead over McIvor in the World Cup standings.  SRC

— The Canadian Press and Canada Ski Cross contributed to this report

Grindelwald women’s World Cup ski cross results

Grindelwald men’s World Cup ski cross results