SNOWBOARDING:

Canadians Morison 3rd, Calvé 4th in PGS at Stoneham

Feb. 20, 2011 — Canada Snowboard 

STONEHAM, Quebec ― Matthew Morison of Burketon, Ontario, is back on the right track as he took  third in the parallel giant slalom of the 2011 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup race at Stoneham, Québec, Sunday.

In a dramatic fashion, Morison lost the bronze-medal dual against Italian rider Roland Fischnaller by 0.02 seconds after having the advantage of the maximum time penalty of 1.5 seconds. As the two riders were getting ready for postrace protocol, the announcers announced the disqualification of the Italian rider, which awarded the bronze to Morison.

“I hate to move into the bronze-medal spot that way ― you want to earn it ― but I’ll take it,” said Morison. “It’s great for my confidence. I am back in school this year, and it’s been tough.”

In the video review of the race, it was identified that Fischnaller did not correctly pass around one of the gates in the lower section, and therefore was disqualified.

Morison had been struggling this season. In five events, Morison has made the finals only twice, including Sunday.

“Today was the first time I slipped out of the top 16 overall, and I wanted to get back in and make a point of doing [well] here in Stoneham. This is the best venue on tour, and we are so well-treated.”

Morison is back in school this year, as well as taking his helicopter pilot license course. “The prize money for third place is about two and half hours in the helicopter back in Vancouver.”

Benjamin Karl of Austria took the victory, taking his teammate Andreas Prommegger to the finish line in the gold-medal duel.

Karl won four World Cup race this season in parallel racing, as well as both parallel World Championships titles. He is the current World Cup leader.

Karl is the undisputed king of the hill at Stoneham, winning the parallel giant slalom World Cup race an impressive four years in a row.

In women’s action, Caroline Calvé of Montréal took fourth place, conceding the victory and bronze medal to her rival Marion Kreiner of Austria by only 0.05 seconds.

“I have been having a hard time, especially at the top, on the red course. I’m glad I caught up just a little bit. Coming out of the pitch I had a really nice transition, but then right on top of the flat I sketched out and lost some momentum,” said Calvé, the only member of the 2010 Olympic snowboard team from this year’s women’s alpine snowboarding program. “I really fought hard to get back. I was really good at the end of my races today, and knew I could work it and hopefully make the difference.”

Calvé, who was energized by the roaring crowd after each of the run, was really happy with her race and fourth position, her second-best result of her career on the World Cup tour.

“I cannot not be satisfied, even though it’s disappointing to finish fourth. At the same time, to make the finals was really good for me. Going through the top eight, and then to the top four, is quite amazing, especially on home soil!”

Prior to the race Sunday, Calvé had yet to make it through qualifications, failing to advance to elimination rounds. Her best result was a 19th position as the season kicked off in Landgraaf, Netherlands, in October.

Russia’s Ekatarina Tudegesheva, the World Cup leader in alpine snowboarding, took the victory in Sunday’s race. The Russian won four parallel races this season and stepped on the podium for the fifth time. She defeated Claudia Riegler of Austria in the gold-medal dual.

Canada now has 13 medals on the FIS World Cup tour this season.

Stoneham men's World Cup PGS results

Stoneham women's World Cup PGS results