WEST Vancouver's Maëlle Ricker has long been one of the best snowboard cross racers in the world but, after a tough couple of years dealing with injuries and finishing races in places other than first, it's nice to prove that you still are the queen of the hill.
Ricker did just that Tuesday in Stoneham, Que., winning a World Cup race for the first time since early 2010. Her last World Cup win also came in Stoneham and was one month before her gold-medal victory at the 2010 Olympic Games.
Ricker has been dealing with a broken hand and an injured shoulder that have kept her from her customary spot on top of World Cup podiums. On Tuesday she outraced Nelly Moenne Loccoz and Deborah Anthonioz of France in the championship final after qualifying in first place the previous day.
"It's actually quite a relief, to be honest," she said after the race. "It took a lot longer to get going than I expected. I'm pretty impatient and the whole recovery process was getting very frustrating. But it's been coming along slowly all year and I've been feeling better every time I've put my feet on the board."
After winning Olympic gold on Cypress Mountain, Ricker finished out the 200910 season with silver and bronze World Cup showings. The following season Ricker hit the podium three times but failed to reach the top step before a crash at the world championships on Jan. 18, 2011 sidelined her for the rest of the 2010-11 campaign. She returned last December and scored three consecutive fifth place finishes before breaking through with bronze medals at the X-Games in January as well as at a World Cup race at Blue Mountain in Ontario on Feb. 8.
On Tuesday Ricker scraped by in her six-woman quarterfinal, finishing third with the top-3 advancing, before riding strong starts to first-place finishes in both her semifinal and final.
"I was slow in my quarterfinal, I wasn't attacking the course and missed some really
key points at the top," said Ricker. "I had a talk with myself - 'I've got to pull up my socks' - and I put myself in a strong mindset for the semifinal and the final.
"In the final, near the bottom, I almost lost it on the jump before the last corner, got a bit out of control, but managed to get my feet under me."
It's been a struggle recovering from her injuries, said Ricker, and there is still some work to be done, particularly on her shoulder, which suffered nerve damage.
"It's not quite there yet," she said. "I'm working hard in the gym trying to build the muscle back up. It's frustrating because if affects my starts, which is something I've not had a problem with in the past. It's been a whole new challenge this year, sort of relearning how to start."
Ricker is getting back to the level that she was at when she capped off two Crystal Globe seasons with Olympic gold.
"It's going in the right direction," she said. "Every time I'm on my board I'm getting a little better. I'm still not 100 per cent yet and I can get stronger physically and technically on my board. I'm not near the level I was at two years ago. There's still some work to do but it's getting better every day.
Ricker and the rest of the Canadian team are now in Russia where they will be competing in a Europa Cup event on the hill that will be used for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. It'll be an important learning process for the racers - Ricker said she's never been to Russia let alone raced this hill.
"I haven't heard anything about it, I'm going in blind," she said. "It's going to be a big surprise . . . but it's important to get in there and get your head wrapped around what the terrain and the snow are like."
