Telluride, CO – Falling snow had nothing on Nick Baumgartner Wednesday as the World Championship bronze medalist led the U.S. in first during the qualifications for the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup at Telluride Resort in Colorado.nBaumgartner, of Iron River, Mich., led the way for 11 U.S. men into the final round, with Nate Holland of Olympic Valley, Calif. in fifth and Carrabassett Valley, Maine’s Seth Wescott in seventh to round out the U.S. men in the top 10.
Sitting lower in the rankings headed into the second qualification run, Baumgartner decided that even with the extra snowfall, he was going to try a different strategy for the race, and it paid off.
“I was a little nervous the first run because it was the first run of the year. I had an incident in training yesterday where I went into the fences in turn four. So I took it nice and easy in turn four,” Baumgartner said. “Everything else felt good, so second run I just wanted to cut the break lines and let it rip and I did. Even with the snow, I just pumped everything as hard as I could and worked as hard as I could.”
Canadian Rob Fagan of Cranbrook, British Columbia, posted the second fastest time of the men’s qualifiers, followed closely by teammate Jake Holden of Caledon, Ontario, with the fourth fastest time separated only by Alberto Schiavon of Italy.
On the women’s side, both Vermont’s Lindsey Jacobellis and Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, of Girdwood, Alaska, laid down a solid run time to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Canadian snowboarder Dominique Maltais of Petite-Rivière-St-François, Québec, who has already won the season’s first two snowboardcross World Cups, led the way again on Wednesday, posting the fastest time. Maltais’ Canadian teammate, 2010 Olympic champion Maëlle Ricker of Squamish, British Columbia, finished with the fourth fastest time, easily qualifying for the finals.
The top 32 men and 16 women will go on to compete in the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup on Friday.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup
Telluride, CO – Dec. 15, 2010
Qualifications
Men
1. Nick Baumgartner, Iron River, MI
2. Robert Fagan, Canada
3. Alberto Schiavon, Italy
4. Jake Holden, Canada
5. Nate Holland, Squaw Valley, CA
Women
1. Dominique Maltais, Canada
2. Alexandra Jekova, Bulgaria
3. Helene Olafsen, Norway
4. Maelle Ricker, Canada
5. Lindsey Jacobellis, Stratton Mountain, VT