Stoneham (QC), Canada – A disqualification on Sunday allowed Matthew Morison of Burketon, Ontario, to earn bronze for Canada on home snow in the parallel giant slalom of the 2011 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup race at Stoneham, Quebec. World Cup leaders Ekaterina Tudegesheva of Russia and Austria’s Benjamin Karl took the wins.nMorison lost the bronze medal dual against Italian rider Roland Fischnaller by 0.02 seconds after having the advantage of the maximum time penalty of 1.5 seconds. As the two riders were getting ready for post-race protocol, the announcers announced the disqualification of the Italian rider, which awarded the bronze to Morison.
“I hate to move into the bronze medal spot that way – you want to earn it – but I’ll take it,” said Morison. “It’s great for my confidence. I am back in school this year, and it’s been tough.”
In the video review of the race, it was identified that Fishnaller did not correctly pass around one of the gates in the lower section, and therefore was disqualified.
Morison has been struggling this season. In five events, Morison made the finals only twice including today.
Karl took the men’s victory over his teammate Andreas Prommegger in the gold medal duel. Amazingly, Karl won four World Cup parallel races this season, as well as both parallel World Championships titles. He is the current World Cup leader and on Sunday was able to clinch a historical five consecutive victories, matching a feat last achieved by Switzerland’s Philipp Schoch six years ago.
“I’m so happy that I equaled the record,” said Karl. “By having had the four-peat already, I was so close to it. But you know it can be all over so quickly. Today, it’s party time.”
Karl is also the undisputed king of the hill at Stoneham, winning the parallel giant slalom World Cup race an impressive four years in a row.
In women’s action, Tudegesheva beat Austria’s Claudia Riegler. In the battle for third, Marion Kreiner of Austria crossed the finish line ahead of Canada’s Caroline Calvé of Montreal, Quebec.
“I have been having a hard time especially at the top, on the red course. I’m glad I caught up just a little bit. Coming out of the pitch I had a really nice transition, but then right on top of the flat I sketched out and lost some momentum,” said Calvé, the only member of the Canadian 2010 Olympic Snowboard Team on this year’s women’s alpine snowboarding program. “I really fought hard to get back. I was really good at the end of my races today, and knew I could work it and hopefully make the difference.”
Official Results
LG Snowboard FIS World Cup
Stoneham Quebec – Feb. 20, 2011
Parallel Slalom
Women:
1 TUDEGESHEVA Ekaterina RUS
2 RIEGLER Claudia AUT
3 KREINER Marion AUT
4 CALVE Caroline CAN
Men:
1 KARL Benjamin AUT
2 PROMMEGGER Andreas AUT
3 MORISON Matthew CAN
4 FISCHNALLER Roland ITA