Jacobellis Scores Another Podium; Four in the Top 10
On a beautiful day in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Canada, six U.S snowboardcross athletes competed in their second to last race of the season with Lindsey Jacobellis securing her 59th career podium.
Conditions were overcast, but it made for very fast snow conditions for the racers. During the women's qualifications just the day before, Jacobellis, Faye Gulini, and Stacey Gaskill each raced their hearts out in order to make the quarterfinals Saturday. Both Jacobellis and Gulini advanced to the semifinals as the top two athletes in their heats. Jacobellis then ranked first in the semifinals and advanced to compete in the big final against Gulini, who placed second in her heat. The big final saw Jacobellis securing another third place finish to add as her 59th career podium.
Jacobellis is the most decorated women's snowboardcross athlete to ever do it and will look to see if she can make her 60th World Cup podium Sunday in Canada. Gulini was just off the podium in fourth place with a time of 1:03.00, 0.69 seconds behind Jacobellis. Gaskill did not advance to the semifinals and settled with a 12th place.
On the men's side, three American men advanced into the 1/8th final from qualifiers the day before. After qualifying into the quarterfinals in second place in his heat, Senna Leith was unable to advance into the semifinals. Leith's day ended with another top 10 finish in ninth place. Fellow teammate Jake Vedder also advanced to the quarterfinal after finishing second in his heat, but did not qualify further, which placed him in 13th overall.
The top American finisher for the day was Hagen Kearney who had a stellar day, advancing as the top finisher in both the 1/8th and quarterfinal. However, when it came down to the semifinals, Kearney accidentally took the wrong line on one of the banks which set him back into last place. As it may not have been the results he wanted, he was still able to secure another top 10 finish in eighth place.
The U.S Snowboard Team snowboardcross racers will look to finish off their competition season with another race tomorrow in Mont-Sainte-Anne.
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