Jacobellis Snags 30th Career SBX World Cup Victory
Fresh off her mixed-team World Championship victory, Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) claimed her 30th career victory as the FIS Snowboard World Cup returned to action Saturday in Feldberg, Germany.
“I’m really happy with the way my starts are coming together,” said Jacobellis, the winningest snowboardcross athlete of all time, after her historic 30th win in some challenging conditions at Feldberg. “It makes things a lot easier when you don’t have to battle through traffic. I got out front and tried to stay in the smallest tuck possible so that I wasn’t creating a lot of draft for the girls behind me.”
The ladies’ big final was about as talent-loaded as you could hope to see, with Jacobellis lined up alongside 2019 World Championship two-time medallist Michela Moioli from Italy, 2019 World Champion Eva Samkova, and the resurgent Chloe Trespeuch from France.
Fighting from the rider’s left lane, Jacobellis was able to out-pump her competitors through the start section to pull into an early lead that she would not relinquish through the twisty Feldberg course, leaving Moioli and Samkova for battle for second while Trespeuch - who missed the first part of the season due to injury - looked for an opening from the back.
Across the line, it would be Jacobellis with the win, followed by Moioli in seconds, Samkova in third, and Trespeuch forced to settle for fourth. Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City, Utah) was 11th, and Stacey Gaskill (Golden, Colo.) was 20th.
Matched up in a tough final heat against a pair of German athletes in Paul Berg and Konstantin Schad, as well as young Japanese rider Yoshiki Takahara, Australia’s Cameron Bolton took out a page out of Jacobellis’ book, jumping quickly out of the left gate and into the lead before the first corner with the Germans hot on his tail in the men’s final.
With Takahara clipping Schad’s board and nearly crashing on the first corner, Schad and Berg would be free to battle for second while Bolton opened up a comfortable lead, holding on easily through the finish for the win.
“It feels really, really good,” said Bolton of his first World Cup win, “It was a tricky race today and I'm happy I was able to come out here and do it. Three years ago I broke my back on this course, so to come out here and qualify first and then take the win, it feels like I have a little bit of redemption. And to share the podium with a couple of German riders on their home turf is nice, too.”
Berg finished second and Schad in third, while 21-year-old Takahara, competing in just his 10th World Cup event, had the best finish of his career in fourth. Alex Deibold (Salt Lake City, Utah.) won the small final to finish fifth. Senna Leith (Vail, Colo.) was 11th; 2019 individual and mixed-team World Champion Mick Dierdorff (Steamboat Springs, Colo.) was 13th; Hagen Kearney (Silverthorne, Colo.) was 14th; Jake Vedder (Pinckney, Mich.) finished 17th, Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, Mich.) was 20th.
Action at Feldberg continues on Sunday with what will be the first-ever mixed team snowboard cross World Cup event, after the new format made its debut last weekend at the 2019 World Championships in a highly entertaining affair.
RESULTS
Men’s snowboardcross
Women’s snowboardcross
HOW TO WATCH
All times EST
Sunday, Feb. 10
4:00 a.m. - Men and women’s team snowboardcross - Feldberg, GER - OlympicChannel.com & NBC Sports Gol
All streams are available via desktop (NBCSports.com/Live, NBCSports.com/Gold andOlympicChannel.com) as well as mobile, tablet and connected television platforms. The NBC Sports app, NBC Sports Gold app and Olympic Channel app are available on the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Windows Store, Roku Channel Store, Apple TV and Amazon Fire. Exclusive commercial-free coverage will be available for subscribers of the NBC Sports Gold Pass.
