Dominique Maltais asserts her domination in Women’s Snowboard X at Winter X Games Aspen 2012
Winter action sports action takes place around the world, offering the exciting athletes to showcase their talent and earn acknowledgement through medals and trophies. However, the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, celebrates the sport like no other. Athletes
from around the world converge to Buttermilk Mountain to push themselves to the limit while reaching out for the Winter X medal.
The 16th edition of Winter X Games was once again doing justice to all the hype that surrounded it by featuring a series of enthralling battles for top honours right from its start on Thursday, January 26. Continuing with the thrilling action
on Saturday, January 28, the event eventually reached Women’s Snowboard X Final.
After surviving the 15-woman qualifiers and a 12-woman Semi-final, six ladies had found themselves in final race for the coveted gold medal. All six riders had exhibited great control and consistency during the previous two rounds of the competition to find
themselves still alive in contention for a podium finish. It was only natural to expect an intense race to the finish as all six finalists had already made their deadly forms apparent.
One particular rider, Canada’s Dominique Maltais, had announced herself as a formidable force to be reckoned with even before the final battle had gotten underway. Finishing first in both the Qualifiers and Semi-finals, the 31-year-old had already made her
intention quite clear. With the absence of 2011 Women’s Snowboard X champion Lindsey Jacobellis of America missing from the line-up, there was hardly who seemed to pose a serious threat to Maltais’ utter domination of the contest this year.
As the Final kicked off, Maltais took the hole-shot to leave the pack behind her right from the start. The course was nothing short of challenging to say the least, but the Canadian rider had no problem in besting it and smoothly raced across it maintaining
good speed. Her skill and consistency allowed her to hold the lead throughout the race and eventually earned her first place as she crossed the finish line in 1 minute 31.614 seconds.
After finishing in 6th place at Winter X Games last year, standing on top of the podium was indeed a huge accomplishment for Maltais. For a woman who had already asserted her dominance in the sport in other countries, she had managed to take care
of the only thing that was missing from her CV.
During her post-Final interview, the new Women’s Snowboard X champion stated, “I like speed, I like the course. I like long courses, especially. I really wanted to make the podium, and I'm really happy to finish on the first step.”
With Maltais holding on firmly to her lead during the Final, the battle for the second and third place took place between Bulgaria’s Alexandra Jekova and Canada’s Maelle Ricker.
After a back-and-forth race to the finish, it was the 24-year-old Jeokova who managed to beat her rival to the finish line, clocking a time of 1 minute 33.336 seconds to earn her first podium finish and Winter X silver.
Ricker, two-time Snowboard X gold medallist and 2010 Winter Olympic snowboard cross champion, was making her return to Aspen after missing the event last year due to a broken event. The 33-year-old Whistler-native put on a determined performance, showing
good control and speed while handling the jumps to keep Jekova under pressure throughout the race. However, she eventually had to settle for third place after finishing just behind her Bulgarian rival, clocking a time of 1 minute 33.642 seconds.
It had turned out to be yet another exciting edition of Women’s Snowboard X, much to the delight of the action sports fans. Winter X Games Aspen 2012 hardly leaves any doubt in one’s mind about it being the biggest stage of action sports and a platform where
monumental performances are always on the cards.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
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