Telluride, CO – The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup continued in a snowy Telluride Resort in Colorado on Thursday with Slovenian rider Rok Flander and Fraenzi Maegert-Kohli from Switzerland taking respective wins in the men’s and women’s Visa Parallel Giant Slalom races.nFlat light and new snow made conditions tough in the season’s second World Cup PGS event at Telluride. The rough conditions and challenging course took their toll on U.S. athletes including Tyler Jewell, of Steamboat Springs, Colo., and White Salmon, Wash.’s Vic Wild, as none made the flip into the final round. Matt Morison of Burketon, Ontario, posted the best Canadian result in sixth position. Morison faced Flander, the ultimate winner, in the quarter finals.
“Finally again. I wasn’t sure if everything would work out,” Flanders, 31, said of his fourth career World Cup victory in two and a half years, riding new equipment on Thursday. “I tried out a new combination of plate and board. Back home I wasn’t able to test it as there was too much snow fall. So, I’m super stoked that it worked out.”
Wild, who led off the season with two podiums on the Race to the Cup tour before his sixth in Italy, led the pack within a hair of finals, taking fifth in the first run but some mistakes in the second run put him in 18th. Jewell went down during the first run due to an on course distraction. He was given a rerun but was ultimately disqualified.
Morison was the lone Canadian to qualify for the elimination rounds. His teammates Michael Lambert of Toronto finished 23rd, while Patrick Farrell of Oakville, Ontario, finished 36th. Matthew Carter of Maryhill, Ontario, finished 40th and, Darren Gardner of Burlington, Ontario finished in 44th position.
Maegert-Kohli’s win in the women’s contest shows that she’s ready for the World Championships in La Molina. “At the moment, I’m feeling very good. I’m having confidence and am able of keeping hold to the momentum,” she said. “I exactly knew what to do to be fast. And I knew that I would win this race. I’m super happy.”
The reigning Parallel Slalom World Champion edged out Germany’s Isabella Laboeck in a close ladies’ final. World Cup leader Ekaterina Tudegesheva of Russia came in third, while Austria’s Julia Dujmovits placed fourth.
Centerville, Utah athlete Lindsay Lloyd finished in 26th. No Canadian women qualified for the elimination rounds.
The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup in Telluride continues Saturday with the Visa U.S. Snowboardcross Cup at 1:30 p.m. MT. Thursday’s competition was the final World Cup parallel race scheduled prior to the 9th FIS Snowboard World Championships in La Molina, Spain, in January.
Official Results
LG FIS Snowboard World Cup
Telluride, CO – Dec. 16, 2010
Parallel Giant Slalom
Men
1. Rok Flander (SLO)
2. Kaspar Fluetsch (SUI)
3. Manuel Veith (AUT)
Women
1. Fraenzi Maegert-Kohli (SUI)
2. Isabella Laböck (GER)
3. Ekaterina Tudegesheva (RUS)