Canada’s Brady Leman wins gold in Men’s Ski Cross Race Finals
By Nir Regev
Canada’s Brady Leman took home the gold medal in the Men’s Ski Cross Finals at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Canada’s Brady Leman won his first Olympic gold medal in exciting fashion at the Men’s Ski Cross Finals just edging out Switzerland’s Marc Bischofberger, who won the silver medal. OAR’s Sergey Ridzik won the bronze after recovering from a crash along with Canada’s Kevin Drury who came in fourth. The race to the finish line between Leman and Bischofberger was one for the books, a one-on-one battle for gold.
MEDAL RESULT | Men's Ski Cross Race Finals
Brady Leman
Marc Bischofberger
Sergey Ridzik
Drury had kept Sochi’s silver medalist Frenchman Arnaud Bovolenta off the podium in the semifinals. The Canadian skier had taken a risky attempt which saw him see daylight between two competitors and speed up to take first in spectacular fashion.
Arnaud Bovolenta would come in third in the semifinal heat, losing his chance to compete in the Big Final. He would come in sixth over all after competing in the Small Final where he came in second. Switzerland’s Armin Niederer took fifth place overall, and first place in the Small Final. Russia/OAR’s Sergey Ridzik won the quarterfinal heat with Sochi’s gold medalist Jean Frederic Chapuis, who came in fourth.
After France’s domination of the podium at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, it was surprising to see neither Sochi gold medalist Jean-Frédéric Chapuis nor silver medalist Arnaud Bovolenta advance to the Big Final. It really goes to show, ski cross is an unpredictable sport with intense speed, unexpected crashes and an impressive talent pool. Nothing is guaranteed in the sport.
We hope Canadian skier Christopher Del Bosco is doing alright tonight after suffering what looked like a horrific crash in the quarterfinal earlier in the competition. We wish Del Bosco a speedy recovery and good health.
And here’s is a look at men’s #skicross podium @pyeongchang2018 @Olympics 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/nUg8yhrOVc
— FISfreestyle (@FISfreestyle) February 21, 2018
NBCOlympics.com’s live stream commentator described the moment on the podium tonight as one “The three will treasure for the rest of their lives and never ever forget.”
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