Montafon, Austria – A summer of intense training paid off in a gold medal performance Saturday for Canadian snowboarder Dominique Maltais.

The 32-year-old from Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, Quebec, won a course-long duel with Raffaella Brutto of Italy to kick off the women’s 2012-13 snowboard cross season with her first World Cup victory outside Canada in two years.

“I worked hard all summer, practised to stay strong and be comfortable when passing,” Maltais said immediately after the first women’s World Cup race of the season that was postponed from Friday.

That paid off Saturday in the final. Maltais raced past Brutto early in the final only to have the Italian reclaim the lead about halfway through the race.

“I was fighting with her all the way,” said Maltais, who began the 2010-11 season with three straight victories. “There were a couple of passes but I passed her about 100 metres before the finish.”

Brutto finished second with Belle Brockhoff of Austria third.

“It was a great performance,” said head coach Rene Brunner after the race that delayed about 45 minutes because of weather. “All summer she trained well. All that hard work paid off.”

The three other Canadians who qualified to compete went out in the first round. Maelle Ricker of Squamish, British Columbia, finished 13^th, Carle Brenneman of Comox, British Columbia, was 16^th, and Jade Critchlow of Kelowna, British Columbia, was 20^th. Michelle Brodeur of Calgary,Alberta,  the fifth member of the Canadian women’s team who suffered a concussion in a crash on Friday, remained in hospital for observation Saturday.

Jacqueline Hernandez and Karen Kobayashi, the only two American women entered in Saturday’s race, finished in the 21^st and 26^th positions, respectively.

Italian Omar Visintin came out on top in Friday’s men’s competition, with Austria’s Markus Schairer finishing second and American Nick Baumgartner, of Iron River, Mich., who suffered an Achilles tendon injury in early February to end his 2012 season, rounding out the podium in third.

“I needed that. My legs are dying from the last two weeks of powder riding here in Austria,” said Baumgartner, who took advantage of the hole shots to consistently stay amongst the leaders during finals. “I just needed something to get me back into it and stoked on it.”

U.S. Snowboarding placed three riders in the top 10, with Jonathan Cheever, of Saugus, Mass., finishing seventh and Telluride, Colo.’s Hagen Kearney crossing the finish line in eighth. Other American results included Nate Holland in 18^th, Alex Deibold in 20^th, Ross Powers 27^th, Pat Holland 32^nd, Seth Wescott 35^th, Jarod Minghini 41st and Robert Minghini 57^th.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Snowboard World Cup
Montafon, Austria

Women’s Snowboard Cross – Dec. 8, 2012

Men’s Snowboard Cross – Dec. 7, 2012