Fourth World Title for Jacobellis
KREISCHBERG, Austria (Jan. 16 2015)—Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) added a fourth World Championship title to her long list of snowboarding accolades and Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI) collected his second World Championships bronze medal in Kreischberg on Friday.
Experience was the key to success for Jacobellis and Baumgartner, who both fought hard battles to land on the podium. Jacobellis’ fourth win in as many World Championship starts didn’t come easy. “This year was definitely my hardest World Champs to win because I didn’t make any starts and I was fighting through all the heats, trying to finding opportunities to pass,” said Jacobellis.
Lindsey Jacobellis hoists her trophy over her head at the awards ceremony. (Getty Images-Agence Zoom/Stanko Gruden)
In each of the four rounds, Jacobellis failed to win the hole shot, but what she lacked at the get-go, she made up for with her 12 years of World Cup experience. “Lindsey had to battle all day. She was never in front from the beginning.” said head coach, Peter Foley. “She would have to go to work, making some amazing turns, keeping low on the jumps and pumping the rollers harder to take the win from there.”
Baumgartner also rode hard, seizing the opportunities in each race to earn his spot in the final. For the first half of the medal round, it looked like Baumgartner and teammate Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA) would take one and two. But in the ways of snowboardcross, Baumgartner was bumped into the fence on an attempted pass and got tangled up with Nate, so the duo settled for third and fourth behind Italian Luca Matteotti and Canadian Kevin Hill. ”I was lucky enough to hold onto third,” said Baumgartner. “To come out of there with a bronze medal and it being the first race of the year and it being World Championships, I’m super stoked.”
Nick Baumgartner claimed third place in snowboardcross at the World Championships. (Getty Images-Agence Zoom/Stanko Gruden)
World Championships snowboarding action continues Saturday with halfpipe finals streamed live on Universal Sports at 12:00pm EST.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Lindsey Jacobellis also won the World Championships in 2005, 2007 and 2011.
- Women's podium: Lindsey Jacobellis (first), Nelly Moenne Loccoz from France (second) and Michela Moioli from Italy (third).
- Men's podium: Luca Matteotti from Italy (first), Kevin Hill from Canada (second), and Nick Baumgartner
- Watch the snowboardcross finals re-air on Universal Sports at 9:00 p.m. on Friday, and 3:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
QUOTES
Lindsey Jacobellis
I wasn’t getting any of the starts. Starts have never been my strong suit and sometimes they really don’t come together for me. But I was riding the rest of the course well, so I figured I could break down riders in front of me and look for opportunities to pass. I was fighting the whole way down and not giving up and it worked out.
This year was definitely my hardest World Champs to win because I did not make any starts. I was fighting through all the heats and trying to find opportunities to pass. It’s a gamble, but the options that I chose paid off today and worked out.
Nick Baumgartner
We’ve had a couple events cancelled, so to get back out there was so much fun. I’m super stoked to have it go the way it did. The course had a couple really hard GS turns, which usually isn’t my strength, and I rode them so good today. I’m super happy with how I rode.
I was going to make a pass in the finals. I thought I had it, but he ended up making a very good move—blocking me and pushing me into the fence. I was lucky enough to hold onto third. To come out of there with a bronze medal and it being the first race of the year and it being World Championships, I’m super stoked.
I so badly wanted (Nate and me) on the podium. Nate and I are the older guys now and it’s nice to prove a point—like, 'Hey, we still got this.'
Peter Foley, U.S Snowboarding head coach
We were a little bit challenged by our starts but Nate, Lindsey and Baum are such good pack racers that they just found places to pass. It was really unpredictable and the riders just had to react to what was happening in the race the whole time.
