SNOWBOARDING:

Maltais wins 3rd straight, Ricker podiums again at Telluride (VIDEO BONUS)

Dec. 17, 2010     ♦ Video by Infront Sports & Media/FIS

TELLURIDE, Colorado — Three up, three down. Dominique Maltais of Canada is perfect this snowboardcross season, winning her third straight World Cup snowboardcross event Friday, this time in the Colorado Rockies at Telluride.

A Montreal-area firefighter when she's not burning up boardercross courses, Maltais fended off Bulgaria's Alexandra Jekova for the win, with Canada's Maelle Ricker third for her third straight podium.

“I was pinching myself on the way down,” Maltais said. “ I didn’t think that three wins in three starts could be possible. I won each race by a large margin. I was really fast on the course, and really happy that everything went well.”

Maltais’ season has been magical to say the least, doubling her total career win from three to six. After sustaining a devastating injury at the Olympic Games, Maltais came back as focused as ever, and now takes a significant lead in the race toward the crystal globe, awarded to the season’s best rider.

“I changed snowboards this summer, but the key to this success, really, was my training this summer, which gave me lots of confidence. I feel good and in control on this new board. I am not scared to push the lines, and I am confident it will react well,” Maltais added.

“I will never get tired of winning, especially when they are nice and clean races such as these ones. Whether you like it or not, our sport is a sport where there are lots of factors you simply can’t control. These last three races were controlled races, and nothing came to disturb me. It’s a lot more fun to win cleanly.”

Carle Brenneman was 20th for Canada.

Tom Velisek, 14th, was the top Canadian in the men's race, won by Pierre Vaultier of France. American Seth Wescott was second and Australia's Alex Pullin third. Rob Fagan of Cranbrook, B.C., was 18th. National team rookie Jake Holden of Caledon, Ont., finished in 19th position, his career-best result on the World Cup tour.

Maltais now has 20 World Cup podiums, including six wins, in 46 career starts on the FIS. A veteran of seven years on the Canadian team, Maltais won bronze at the 2006 Olympic Games in Torino.

Ricker, the reigning Olympic champion in the discipline, has an equally impressive record, stepping on the podium 35 times, including 14 wins to date, in both halfpipe and snowboardcross. Ricker, who has been on the national team for 15 years, took part in the first Olympic Games when snowboarding was introduced to the Olympic program in 1998. Ricker also won two X Games events.

This race is the last snowboardcross race before the 2011 FIS World Championships at La Molina, Spain, set for Jan. 15-23.

S-Magazine

— Canada Snowboard contributed to this report

Telluride women's World Cup snowboardcross results

Telluride men's World Cup snowboardcross results