Crowds at Blue Mountain cheered with exuberance as Canadian skier Ashleigh McIvor made a last minute pass in her race to win a silver medal at Ontario's first World Cup ski racing event.
Blue Mountain hosted the 2010 World Cup ski cross race on February 19 and 20, and huge crowds stretched from the base of Smart Alec run and into the village as champion skiers from all over the world visited Blue Mountain.
McIvor and her fellow Canadian teammates were the crowd favourites, but one by one, they lost their places in the big final, which leaves the top four competitors in a neck and neck race for a medal.
Ski Cross, because of it's winding, obstacle course, was fit for Blue Mountains smaller slopes. In the finals, four racers start at the same time and race down the mountain around sharp curves, over high ramps and across bumpy terrain.
McIvor won her first three heats, but came out of the gate for her final race and lost her balance on the first jump. She recovered quickly, but was skiing in third place. The crowd watched the jumbo-tron with heated anticipation, and a loud cheer erupted as McIvor made a last minute pass into second place and came over the finish line on the heels of the World Cup Champion, Marte Hoeie Gjefsen of Norway.
This was Gjefsen's first world cup title, and McIvor's fourth podium finish this year.
Canadian racer Danielle Poleschuk took sixth place standing with Kelsey Serwa and Julia Murray in 9 and 10.
In the men's race, the Canadian team missed the big final race for a podium spot, but Brady Leman skied an exciting race and pulled off a quick pass in the last corner of the track to win the small final and score fifth in the competition.
His teammate, Stanley Hayer raced the same final and finished third in the heat and seventh overall. Canadians David Duncan, Christopher Delbosco and Davey Barr finished ninth, tenth and thirteenth respectively. Nick Zorcic finished in the 32 spot, Brian Bennett finished 43, Stanislas Rey finished 56, David Holmes finished 59, Clay Dolan finished 62 and Sven Winter finished 63.
On the men's podium, Austria dominated with their skiers Matt Andreas in first and Patrick Koller in third. Lars Lewan of Sweeden earned a second place finish and Michael Schmid of Switzerland placed fourth. He is the World Cup standings leader, and started his final race strong, but he fell on the course and finished fourth.
