“Finally!” World Cup wins worth the wait for Phelan (CAN) and Duplessis Kergomard (FRA)
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Brittany Phelan (CAN) won the first FIS World Cup Ski Cross race of her career in Reiteralm, Austria on Sunday, while a maiden victory for Youri Duplessis Kergomard (FRA) blew the race for the men’s Crystal Globe wide open.
Heavy snow on Friday made the course too slow for the women to race on Saturday, but this time both fields were able to put it down thanks to cold temperatures overnight. “It was not fun to watch the men yesterday,” Marielle Berger Sabbatel (FRA) admitted. “But today the snow is harder so we will have more speed.”
And it was the French woman, fastest in Thursday qualifying, who had the most to gain after World Cup leader Marielle Thompson failed to make it past the first corner in her quarter-final.
After Phelan and Berger Sabbatel dominated their semi-finals, the Big Final was expected to come down to a shootout between the two. And so it proved, with Swiss pair Talina Gantenbein and Margaux Dumont – who were eventually awarded joint third – failing to finish the race after coming together at the first corner.
By this point, Phelan had already built up a healthy lead, having burst out of the starting gate, and she never let it slip. Berger Sabbatel did try to make a pass on the final corner, despite losing ground when she hit the knuckle of the landing area on the last jump, but she just couldn’t get close enough.
“To have a good fight with Marielle and hold her off to get the first win of my career after 16 years of World Cup racing is amazing,” Phelan, 32, said. “It’s been a long time coming and to finally get that monkey off my back and cross the line with nobody in front of me feels unreal.
“I’ve always loved this track and I felt good from the first training run. It was a bit slower than we would have liked but they did an amazing job to get the race on. I just let it happen.
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