SKI CROSS:

Del Bosco, Serwa golden in ski cross at World Championships

Feb. 4, 2011     ♦ Photos: Chris Del Bosco, top, and Kelsey Serwa with Julia Murray (John Evely)

DEER VALLEY, Utah ― Canada made ski cross history Friday by winning double gold and a silver at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Championships.



Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, B.C., climbed off the physio table to capture gold in the women's ski cross finals at Deer Valley, with teammate Julia Murray of Whistler, B.C., securing silver.

Chris Del Bosco followed that up by pulling off a breathtaking move in the men's final to surge into first and secure double gold for Canada.

"I couldn't get out of bed two days ago and I didn't expect to win here," said a jubilant Serwa, who was injured en route to winning gold at the X Games last weekend when she lost control on the last jump and crossed the finish line on her back. "I couldn't be happier right now."



Murray, who hurt her knee and needed four stitches in her chin after also crashing at the X Games, kept her cool during a hard-fought women's final to take second place ahead of Anna Holmlund of Sweden.

"I'm really excited," she said. "I've been struggling with my knee all year and I hurt it again last week. I really didn't expect to podium."

"Right now I'm pretty sore but I'm really excited that Julie and I were one-two,” Serwa added. “My goal was to win this race but after my X Games crash I wasn't sure if that would be possible. Two days ago I was walking but I had a hard time getting out of bed and moving in general and I actually skipped all the training days on the course just so I could recover."

Murray, too, was shocked with her run considering she competed despite having meniscus and cartilage damage in her knee suffered at the X Games.

"It was surprise to me, even, that I got podium," she said. "I know I have it in me but my knee was really sore and we were talking about just going right home after this and getting a scope done and cleaning things up in there.

"That doesn't really boost the confidence too much but I took a lot of Tylenol and I pushed through it."

Del Bosco was fourth at the Vancouver Winter Olympics when a crash on the final jump took him out of the running for a bronze medal.

"I had some tough luck at the last World Championships in Japan and then (last year's) Olympics, I was fourth in both of those events. I was kind of starting to wonder about these big events and I guess the third time is the charm. I managed to get it done this time,” Del Bosco said.

Del Bosco said he also drew inspiration from Serwa's and Murray's finish in the women's event.

"That was huge," he said. "So when it was my turn I didn't want to let anybody down.''

Del Bosco finished ahead of Finland's Jouni Pellinen and Matt. Tomas Kraus of the Czech Republic was fourth.



"From the beginning we wanted to make sure we put the best program in the world in place," said Eric Archer, Canada's head coach. "It's up to the athletes to take advantage. Today proves they are working hard. That's phenomenal."



Whistler's Davey Barr was third in the small final and seventh overall, while Toronto's Nick Zoricic was eighth. Dave Duncan of Golden, B.C., crashed in his first heat and suffered a hand injury. He is undergoing tests to determine the extent of the injury.



On the women's side, Calgary's Danielle Poleschuk was eliminated at the quarterfinal stage and finished 13th overall. Whistler's Marielle Thompson was 15th overall. S-Magazine

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

Deer Valley Freestyle World Championships men's ski cross results

Deer Valley Freestyle World Championships women's ski cross results