DEL BOSCO KEEPS THE PODIUM STREAK ALIVE WITH ANOTHER 3RD PLACE FINISH IN MEIRINGEN, SUI WORLD CUP

MEIRINGEN, SUI (March 14th, 2010) - Partly cloudy skies and soft pack conditions on a GS style track left Chris Del Bosco (Sudbury, ON) with few passing chances as he narrowly missed 2nd place to finish the day in 3rd in the second to last event of the season.

It came down to a photo finish at the line that found Del Bosco half a boot length out of 2nd spot finishing behind Audun Groenvold (NOR) and Michael Schmid (SUI). Today’s podium marks his 4th consecutive World Cup podium.

When asked about today’s final heat Del Bosco said, “it was the top four qualifiers that ended up in the final and since I qualified 4th I had the last lane choice which made it difficult to get out of the start to the first gate. I mean, Schmidt had an amazing start and with the way the course was set there weren’t any passing opportunities until near the bottom of the course. All I could do was be patient and try to make a move at the bottom. It was really close.”

On placing 3rd for the second race in a row, Del Bosco said, “a podium is always good and these guys are really skiing well, it’s great to be close with them. Schmidt had great starts all day and Groenvold has really stepped it up since the games… it’s good to be in it.”

Teammate Stanley Hayer had a strong day today as well but was fourth out of the start in the final and wasn’t able to gain any ground finishing the day in 4th spot. Brian Bennett (Quesnel, BC) finished the day in 19th spot, Davey Barr (Brackendale, BC) in 28th and Nik Zoricic (Toronto, ON) finished in 35th.

In women’s racing, Head Coach, Eric Archer had this to say, “it was a bit of a scramble today, the course set and the lack of passing lanes made it difficult to move and made for really tight racing. It was a good course just no passing lanes.”

Teammates, Ashleigh McIvor (Whistler, BC) and Danielle Poleschuk (Calgary, AB) made it to the semifinals with eventual winner Anna Holmlund (NOR) and eventual 2nd place finisher, Ophelie David (FRA).

Out of the gate McIvor got into second spot and was pinned in tight behind Holmlund. David, tight in 3rd spot got tangled with McIvor and took them both down leaving the hole open for Poleschuk to move into second spot but she too was twisted out of balance and also fell. This left the door open for David again who was able to get to her feet the fastest and finished the heat in 2nd place, advancing to the finals. McIvor would finish the day in 5th spot and Poleschuk finished in 7th.

Teammate Kelsey Serwa (Kelowna, BC), had a short day when a tactical error near the bottom of the course quarterfinal round left the door open for Anna Woerner (GER) to sneak past and onto the next round. Serwa finished the day in 10th spot and Aleisha Cline (Squamish, BC) finished the day in 32nd place.

NEXT RACE WILL BE THE 2010 WORLD CUP FINALS IN SIERRA NEVADA, SPAIN ON MARCH 20TH, 2010. THE RACE WILL BE BROADCAST ON MARCH 20TH ON CBC STATIONS CHECK SKI-CROSS.CA OR LOCAL LISTINGS FOR TIMES.

 

RESULTS
MEN

1 SCHMID Michael SUI      
2 GROENVOLD Audun NOR     
3 DELBOSCO Christopher CAN      
4 HAYER Stanley CAN      
5 STEFFEN Andreas SUI      
6 MATT Andreas AUT      
7 ELIASSON Tommy SWE      
8 KRAUS Tomas CZE      

19 BENNETT Brian CAN
28 BARR Davey CAN
35 ZORICIC Nik CAN

WOMEN

1 HOLMLUND Anna SWE      
2 DAVID Ophelie FRA      
3 HOEIE GJEFSEN Marte NOR      
4 MUELLER Katrin SUI      
5 MCIVOR Ashleigh CAN      
6 WOERNER Anna GER      
7 POLESCHUK Danielle CAN      
8 OFNER Katrin AUT     

10 SERWA Kelsey CAN
32 CLINE Aleisha CAN