Tess Critchlow 7th at the FIS Snowboardcross World Cup Secret Garden, CHN

After a year off from a knee surgery Tess Critchlow finished 7th at the Olympic test event in Secret Garden, CHN which was the season opener for the SBX FIS Snowboard World Cup and will see the riders comeback in February for the most anticipated event of the year.

In the quarterfinal, Tess finished in 2nd place right behind Chloe Trespeuch (FRA). Moving on to the Semi-Finals, the Big White, BC Native then took 4th place which sent her to the Small Final where she finished 3rd; for a solid 7th place overall.  

The ladies big final saw 2018 Olympic champion Michela Moioli (ITA), 2018 Olympic bronze medalist Eva Samkova (CZE), World Champion Charlotte Bankes (GBR) and Austria’s young gun Pia Zerkhold in the start gate. Like she did in all her previous heats, Samkova took the win at the finish line with Bankes in 2nd and Moioli in 3rd.

On the Men’s side, things were looking up for Eliot Grondin (St-Marie de Beauce, QC) taking 1st place in qualifications by a huge margin of 0.88 over the rest of the field. After taking the win in the 1/8 finals, Eliot unfortunately took 3rd in his Quaterfinal after Tomasso Leoni (ITA) crashed in front of him in a banked turn. With only the top 2 riders moving to the semifinal, Eliot’s day was over, but we look forward to February folling a solid weekend with his 1st place in qualification and 9th place overall on what will be the Olympic course.

For the men’s big final, it was Vice-World Champion and SBX crystal globe triple winner Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT), Italian veteran Omar Visintin (ITA), 39-year-old Nick Baumgartner (USA) and Jakob Dusek (AUT) in the start gate. With the favourite Haemmerle taking the win, Visintin 2nd Baumgartner 3rd after a tight race.

TOP CANADIANS:

Tess Critchlow 7th


Éliot Grondin 9th

Audrey McManiman 12th

Liam Moffatt 17th

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