Park City, UT – In only her second competition back from injury, Salt Lake City, Utah’s Faye Gulini was U.S. Snowboarding’s top snowboard cross finisher on Sunday at the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix at Canyons Resort in Park City, taking second to win the women’s U.S. Championship. Teammate Nate Holland, of Squaw Valley, Calif., was the top American male finisher on a day where continuous snowfall made for low visibility and slow course speeds on Canyons Resort’s Doc’s Run. Austrain Markus Schairer won the men’s title while Canadian rider Dominique Maltais took the women’s.
“Conditions were really different today so I had to put everything together and change the way I was racing,” said Maltais. “I had a really good semifinal but I didn’t have a good start in the final. I was third and passing girls in the middle and then was going to catch Alexandra [Jekova] and she crashed. It’s part of the game. I’m really happy for Canada. The guys won and the girls won for the big final yesterday.”
A Utah native, Gulini took second in the Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix to win the U.S. title after leading in each of her heats. It was only Gulini’s second race this season after recovering from a knee injury.
“Coming back from injury, I needed this,” she said. “I needed a little confidence booster. I went to the last World Cup and it was really stressful, I felt nervous. But it is good to be back and hopefully it will carry over into the last two World Cups.”
Holland placed fourth overall for the men, after he took a fall near the start in the championship heat.
“I’m pumped to have the U.S. Championship title but I really wanted to put the exclamation point on it with a win. Right off the start features, I got run into and taken out,” Holland said. “There’s not much I could have done. I’m stoked for the title, but wish I would have gotten the win. Sitting one off the podium is a bittersweet spot.”
That win went to Austria’s Schairer.
“I was not expecting this. I was hoping to end up in the finals and I was hoping I could win this race and it’s really amazing,” Schairer said. “The season has been up and down and up and down. Now I’m up again and I hope it stays like this. The conditions were really tough today. The snow was really soft and you had to look that you don’t make any mistakes.”
Graham Watanabe. of Sun Valley, Idaho, won the consolation round with teammate Alex Deibold, of Manchester Center, Vt., eighth. A two-time Olympian, Watanabe said it would be his last race.
“Life is unpredictable, you never know. But my plan as of now is to just go see what else the world has to offer,” Watanabe explained. “I still love snowboarding. I know that that part of my life isn’t done. Whether it’s freeriding or whatever. This isn’t really a big departure. I will remember the good times. The whole time I’ve been on tour, it’s been a lot of laughs and I’ve made a lot of really good friends and I’ll look back on that and hopefully maintain those relationships.”
OFFICIAL RESULTS
U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix
Canyons Resort – Park City, UT – Feb. 12, 2012
Snowboard Cross
Men:
PL BIB FIS COMPETITOR----------------------------- QUALIFY RANK IN RACE
Nr Nr SURNAME NAME CLS NAT/YR TIME ROUND POINTS
Finals
1 2 7050145 SCHAIRER, Markus MID AUT/87 1 500.00
2 6 9050115 HAEMMERLE, Alessandro J-1 AUT/93 2 400.00
3 26 9040149 HUGHES, Jarryd J-2 AUS/95 3 300.00
4 8 1134900 HOLLAND, Nate USA/78 4 250.00
Women:
PL BIB FIS COMPETITOR----------------------------- QUALIFY RANK IN RACE
Nr Nr SURNAME NAME CLS NAT/YR TIME ROUND POINTS
Finals
1 9 7105025 MALTAIS, Dominique CAN/80 1 500.00
2 13 9535108 GULINI, Faye J-1 USA/92 2 400.00
3 5 1059944 RAMBERGER, Maria AUT/86 3 300.00
4 16 7537602 JEKOVA, Alexandra MID BUL/87 4 250.00