SBX. Dominique Maltais (CAN) and Pierre Vaultier (FRA) have won the season's fourth boarder cross race of the 2012 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup in Blue Mountain, Ontario, today and thus were able to take over the lead in the SBX World Cup ranking.

SBX World Cup Blue Mountain, CAN - Finals - Heat 2 Men - Luis Marin Tarroch (AND) in green, Tony Ramoin (FRA) in yellow, Pierre Vaultier (FRA) in red, Kevin Leahy (CAN) in blue, Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT) in black, Jarod Minghini (USA) in white © FIS/Oliver Kraus

While the 31-years-old best qualifier was able to dominate the women's final celebrating her season's first World Cup win ahead of Alexandra Jekova (BUL) and Maelle Ricker (CAN), it was an even tougher ride for the 24-years-old Frenchman earning his career's 13th.

It was a crash of reigning World Champion Alex Pullin (AUS) right before the last jump of the track which opened the door for the two-time World Cup title winner to bring home victory ahead of David Speiser (GER) and Nick Baumgartner (USA) who had crossed the finish line head to head.

According to this “gift victory”, Vaultier stated in the finish area: “That doesn't feel like a first rank for me. Chumpy (Alex Pullin) was the king today and led the whole way down. He would have deserved the win. When he crashed, I just had to pass him. But it was an incredible fight with Chumpy.”

The beaten rider from down under who ended up fourth drew a similar line and quoted that he had enjoyed the battle with Vaultier understandable enough had some mixed feelings about the final ranking – which also provided a historical first as Luis Marin Tarroch became the first Andorran rider to ever finish in the top-5.

“I'm pretty bumped on the side of the results. It sucks to have the win in the bag and lose it on the last jump.”

Before that twist of fate, Pullin and Vaultier had showcased boarder cross racing at its best with board to board action and slight touches on the ground and in the air.

“At one point Pierre (Vaultier) was in front so I had to take a very tight inside line. This put me a bit straighter on the last jump. I expected him to be still there and I just tried to cut it, well, a bit hard. With the bumps, the board just went away and I crashed,” recapped the Australian top gun, who finally took the best out of it.

“I'm really happy with my riding. Thats the main thing for me this year. If I would have won, the day would have been perfect.”

However, victory was deserved to his French rival who will is now also leading the race for the World Cup title with 2.632 points. However, although honored with the yellow bib of the current World Cup leader, Vaultier said: “I might lead the World Cup now but I will not comment on this. There are three more races to go. It's still a long way.”

It seems, that the ninth ranked rider of the last Olympics hasn't forgotten that he lost last season's Crystal Globe in the very last race to Alex Pullin.

Queen Dom dominates first ever World Cup in Ontario

While the battle was tight on the men's side, Dominique Maltais once again delivered an impressive proof that she can bring it all together in the time trials and in the heat finals.

“I like it when I've a good quali, especially when I have a lot of advantage over the other girls like yesterday. That gives me a lot of confidence.”

SBX World Cup Blue Mountain, CAN - Finals - Podium Women: 2nd Alexandra Jekova (BUL), 1st Dominique Maltais (CAN), 3rd Maelle Ricker (CAN) © FIS/Oliver Kraus

Due to this confidence and perfect skills which actually would have earned her a spot in the men's final (her qualifier time would have ranked her 34th among the men) her rivals didn't have a slight chance to keep up with the 2006 Olympic Bronze medalist.

“I tried to keep up with Dominique (Maltais) but it was almost impossible for me today. I couldn't catch her after she rode away in the roller section,” said runner-up Alexandra Jekova who was busy enough to block off Olympic Champion Maeller Ricker in the battle for second.

Left all alone in front, Maltais, who leads the World Cup ranking with 3,200 points, crossed the finish line with a comfortable lead earning her career's 25th podium and 7th victory, much to the joy of the Canadian fans in the finish area.

“It's nice to win on home turf although I was focusing on winning in Stoneham. However, Blue Mountain is also home. There were a lot of people watching the Canadians so I wanted to do well.”

The LG Snowboard FIS World Cup continues in Stoneham and Quebec, Canada, from FEB 20 thru 26.

FISsnowboard.com
Thursday 9 February 2012

Canadian Maltais wins snowboard cross gold, Ricker 3rd

Dominique Maltais took over the snowboard cross World Cup standings Wednesday with a gold-medal performance in Collingwood, Ont.

The Petite--Rivière-St-François, Que., native finished ahead of Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria and teammate Maëlle Ricker of Squamish, B.C., at the Blue Mountain course. The red-hot Maltais came into the race winning gold in the Winter X-Games and back-to-back podium finishes at the last two World Cup events.

The victory also puts Maltais atop the World Cup standings, ahead of American Lindsay Jacobellis, who is out for the season with a torn ACL in her left knee that she suffered during the Winter X-Games.

"I'm really happy as I've been pushing myself to get to this level the last few years," said Maltais. "Blue Mountain is nice and the Village is great. I think they did a great job with the course.”

Ricker is also on a roll with two straight third places finishes and her first podium on the World Cup Tour this season. Wednesday’s bronze-medal effort is further proof that Ricker is on her way back from an injury that kept her on the sidelines for most of last season.

"I'm getting there slowly, not quite as fast as I would like to be. I just have to be patient," said Ricker. "It's good to be back on the World Cup podium. I had trouble keeping my speed up in the top section, an area where Dom and Alex are really fast. I got off to a good start in the finals, but those two got ahead of me. I looked for ways to get past Alex but I just ran out of course," continued Ricker.

"It was a super fun weekend, the event organizers did an awesome job. Hopefully we will be back next year and for years to come."

Rob Fagan from Cranbrook, B.C., was the fastest Canadian on the men's side, finishing in 13th place, followed by Kevin Hill from Vernon, B.C. in 17th.

CBC Sports
Feb 8, 2012 9:37 PM ET