Four podium finishes for Canada at snowboard NorAm Cup

Canadian athletes stepped onto the IPC Snowboard NorAm Cup podium four times on Tuesday (9 February), showing their potential in snowboard-cross at home in Big White.

Curtis Mynard and Andrew Genge secured a podium double for the hosts in the men’s SB-UL, with first and third respectively on their international debut.

Finland’s Matti Sairanen secured silver against Mynard in the finals.

Looking ahead to the NorAm and World Cup banked slalom which will take place on Friday (12 February) and Saturday (13 February) respectively, Mynard said: “Banked slalom is something I don’t have a ton of experience in so I’m looking forward to my coaches showing me the ropes and hopefully I can do well again.”

France’s Sochi 2014 Paralympic and Worlds silver medallist Cecile Hernandez-Cervellon finished first ahead of Canada’s Michelle Salt in the women’s SB-LL1. Austria’s Reinhold Schett took victory in the men’s SB-LL1.

Australian youngster Ben Tudhope stormed to his career first podium in the men’s SB-LL2 after a face-off with Spain’s Oier Egana Zabala.

“It feels great,” Tudhope said. “I’ve been training all season long, training really hard and to start now getting the medals and picking up my snowboarding and my ability it’s really good and it can only progress from here.”

The 16-year-old was also full of praise for the course in Big White: “It’s the best course IPC has built! I wouldn’t say better than the X Games…but it’s definitely high up there.”

Nathan Coyle secured Canada’s final podium of the day in third.

The USA’s Amy Purdy was victorious in the women’s SB-LL2, taking her first international podium since sealing bronze at Sochi 2014.

Purdy won her race with eventual second place finisher Joany Badenhorst of Australia, whilst Spain were delighted with another podium courtesy of Astrid Fina Paredes in third.

Full results are available at IPC Snowboard’s website.

The IPC Snowboard World Cup will now get underway on Wednesday (10 February) in Big White with snowboard-cross. Another edition will follow on Thursday (11 February).

Updates and pictures will be posted to @IPCSnowboard and Facebook.com/IPCSnowboard.