Park City, UT – Canada’s Chris Del Bosco and Kelsey Serwa swept gold at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City on Friday. The USA’s John Teller, of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., just missed the final round, but won the small finals to finish fifth.nCanada’s two golds represent the first time a nation has won both the men’s and women’s ski cross events at the Freestyle World Championships. Del Bosco’s gold came after finishing fourth in the 2009 Worlds and the Olympics last year. Jouni Pellinen of Finland and Andreas Matt of Austria earned silver and bronze, respectively, to round out the men’s podium. Matt, the brother of Austrian alpine star Mario Matt, was the defending World Champion. The women’s silver went to Julia Murray of Canada and Anna Holmlund of Sweden got the bronze.
“I couldn’t get out of bed two days ago and I didn’t expect to win here,” said a jubilant Serwa, of Kelowna, British Columbia, 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 the hard-fought women’s final to take second place.
“I’m really excited,” said Whistler, British Columbia’s Murray. “I’ve been struggling with my knee all year and I hurt it again last week. I really didn’t expect to podium.”
Del Bosco, who had to settle for silver at the X Games behind America’s Teller, was lying second in the men’s final and feared the worst.
“I was starting to wonder about these one-day big show finals,” said Del Bosco, who was lying just behind Austria’s Andreas Matt. “I thought, ‘Oh, man, I’m not going to let him win another race.’ He just left the door open a little bit and I took it. It’s amazing.”
Teller was the only American to make Friday’s skicross finals. After qualifying for the finals in ninth, Teller skied well passing his way through the first heat and the quarterfinals before finishing third in his semifinal race earning a spot in the small final.
Teller took full advantage of his opportunity in the small final where he blasted into the lead, taking the hole shot at the first corner and never looked back. He finished fifth overall.
“I had some goals coming into this season. They were pretty high goals and I’d say I’ve achieved them,” said a confident Teller.
Teller’s strong finish in Friday’s World Championships comes only a week after he won gold in the 2011 Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.
“The course was good,” said American Skicross Association’s Casey Puckett, who came out of retirement last week to place third in skicross at Winter X Games 15. “There was room to pass and Teller made a lot of passes today.”
In the first heat of the women’s quarterfinals, there was a massive crash where all of the skiers, including Ophelie David of France, went down. Going into Friday’s races, David was favored to make the skicross finals.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS World Freestyle Ski Championships
Deer Valley Resort, Park City, UT – Feb 4, 2011
Skicross
Men
Gold: Chris Del Bosco, Canada
Silver: Jouni Pellinen, Finland
Bronze: Andreas Matt, Austria
Women
Gold: Kelsey Serwa, Canada
Silver: Julia Murray, Canada
Bronze: Anna Holmlund, Sweden