Photo: Canadian Press
Reece Howden of Canada celebrates his victory in the men’s World Cup ski cross competition Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, at Nakiska Ski Resort in Kananaskis, Alta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Reece Howden and Hannah Schmidt won double gold medals for host Team Canada in the World Cup ski cross competition on Saturday.
It was the first time in eight years of racing at Nakiska Ski Resort that Canadian athletes have finished on both the men’s and women’s podiums in the same World Cup.
“When it really matters, we want to bring it,” Howden said.
Howden, a native of Cultus Lake, British Columbia, has won the men’s overall title in two of the past three years, but Saturday’s win was his first of the season.
“We had a little bit of bad luck here and there, but the fundamentals were there,” he said. “I had to believe in the system, believe in what I was doing, including training in the gym, and believe that eventually things would start to fall into place.”
The 6-foot-3 Howden, nicknamed “Big Rig,” earned his 10th career victory in 2020 at the site of his first World Cup victory.
It was Ottawa’s Schmidt’s second win of the season, following his first career victory on Dec. 12 in Arosa, Switzerland. There, she and her brother Jared both won.
“There’s no better feeling than when you cross the finish line and your friends and family come down to meet you at the finish line,” Schmidt said. “Our team is one of the strongest in the world and it’s great to be able to train and race with them.
“We are a force to be reckoned with.”
Teammate Mariel Thompson of Whistler, British Columbia, came in a close second in the women’s final.
The second World Cup is scheduled to be held on Sunday at a resort west of Calgary.
The host Canadian team has won two gold medals at the Snow World Cup in their home country for both men and women. Brady Lehman and Thompson won at Ontario’s Blue Mountain in both 2017 and 2012.
Saturday’s quarterfinals, semifinals and finals were played under cloudy skies and below freezing temperatures. The top two from each heat advanced.
The Nakiska course is one of the longest on the World Cup circuit and has been modified this year to allow for sharper turns.
Thompson was one of the few racers to successfully complete the pass, finishing ahead of Schmidt in the semifinals. However, Schmidt was able to stop the 2014 Olympic champion in the final.
“This new course they’ve built in Nakiska definitely makes the start more important,” Thompson said. She said: “When she passed Hannah in the semi-finals she felt she had a lot of speed and in the final she knew it too.
“She held me back very effectively.”
Saturday’s finishing order was determined by how fast skiers exited the gate and passed the opening roller.
“This track is really special and being able to get to the front with speed makes a big difference,” Howden said. “By the end, I felt pretty close to invincibility and felt really, really confident coming out of the gate.”
Men’s World Cup overall leader Jared Schmidt, Edmonton’s Carson Cook and Toronto’s Kevin Drury were eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Current Olympic women’s champion Sandra Näslund of Sweden limped after winning in the quarterfinals and withdrew from the rest of the competition.
Six of the 14 women competing on Saturday were Canadian. India Sherett of Cranbrook, British Columbia, Britt Ferrand of Mont-Tremblant, Kenya, and Abby McEwen of Edmonton placed sixth, seventh, and 11th, respectively.
Whistler’s Emmeline Bennett placed 14th in her first World Cup appearance.
“Leading into the weekend, I was really intimidated by the size of the truck,” said the 19-year-old. “I’ve never skied like that at all.
“Once I got it down to earth, the nerves of my first World Cup felt normal. I’m so glad we got through it safely. It’s crazy to see what skiing at the next level is like. I’m not ready for that yet, but I’m really looking forward to when I get there.”