Finland's Markus Malin rides to his first ever Snowboard World Cup victory under lights in Ruka, Finland on Saturday. (photo: Mike Weyerhaeuser)
World Cup

Lucile Lefevre and Markus Malin Claim Career’s First Snowboard World Cup Win at Ruka Half Pipe

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Ruka, Finland –France’s Lucile Lefevre and Markus Malin of Finland each celebrated their career’s first World Cup win in Ruka on Saturday. At the season’s third halfpipe competition of the 2012 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup, Lefevre, the best ladies’ qualifier, not only secured the top spot with a score of 81.3 points but also took over the Halfpipe World Cup lead with 1,290 points.

Finland's Markus Malin rides to his first ever Snowboard World Cup victory under lights in Ruka, Finland on Saturday. (photo: Mike Weyerhaeuser)
Finland's Markus Malin rides to his first ever Snowboard World Cup victory under lights in Ruka, Finland on Saturday. (photo: Mike Weyerhaeuser)

“This is only my second World Cup event,” acknowledged an excited Lefevre. “I’m super happy to have this result!”

Facing temperatures under the lights that hovered around the freezing mark and fog so thick that the judges had to move for a better view, Lefevre’s French teammate Emma Bernard took silver while Finland’s Ella Suitiala rounded out the podium in third in her World Cup debut.

On the men’s side, Malin secured the first ever Finnish World Cup win at home. Dutch rider Steve Krijbolder came in second in Ruka, which has previously hosted World Cup stops in 2001 and 2002. Finland’s Aleksi Kumpulainen earned the last spot on the podium.
“I’ve been riding in the World Cup a long time and am really happy to have won, especially here in Finland,” said Malin.”My first run was kind of a safety run, so I held back my double cork, since nobody else was throwing them. I asked my coach about the second run and he said ‘go for it’ so I threw a double cork.”

An unusually small field for a World Cup event allowed newcomers to make their mark on Saturday. Malin jumps up to second position in the World Cup standings with 1,150 points. His fellow countryman Janne Korpi still sits in first with 1,600 points.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
LG Snowboard FIS World Cup
Ruka, Finland – Dec. 17, 2011
Halfpipe

Women:

Rank Bib Name Year Nation Result Points
 1  11 LEFEVRE Lucile 1995 FRA  1000.00  1000.00
 2  2 BERNARD Emma 1994 FRA  800.00  800.00
 3  3 SUITIALA Ella 1989 FIN  600.00  600.00
 4  1 PEHKONEN Saana FIN  500.00  500.00
 5  13 ENNE Merika 1992 FIN  450.00  450.00
 6  12 ZAJAC Joanna 1990 POL  400.00  400.00
 7  10 ALAPIETI Tytti 1986 FIN  360.00  360.00
 8  5 PIASECKA Julia 1991 POL  320.00  320.00
 9  6 LAUKKANEN Ruut 1992 FIN  290.00  290.00
 10  4 HADT Magdalena 1993 POL  260.00  260.00

Men:

Rank Bib Name Year Nation Result Points
 1  3 MALIN Markus 1987 FIN  1000.00  1000.00
 2  6 KRIJBOLDER Steve 1991 NED  800.00  800.00
 3  10 KUMPULAINEN Aleksi 1991 FIN  600.00  600.00
 4  1 WAL, VAN DER Dolf 1987 NED  500.00  500.00
 5  2 MINDRUL Dmitry 1991 RUS  450.00  450.00
 6  12 LAHTI Joel 1987 FIN  400.00  400.00
 7  21 RAVNJAK Tim-Kevin 1996 SLO  360.00  360.00
 8  18 TARASOV Sergey 1988 RUS  320.00  320.00
 9  22 FARGAS Oriol 1993 SPA  290.00  290.00
 10  4 BIRKENDAHL Linus 1995 GER  260.00  260.00

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