MAELLE Rickers climb back to the peak of the snowboard cross world came up just short as she crashed in the final corner of the final World Cup race of the season Friday in Valmalenco, Italy to just miss winning the seasons overall title.
That she was even in the hunt for the Crystal Globe at all was a marvel after a crash at the 2011 world championships caused nerve damage in her shoulder that she is still dealing with. The injury resulted in a slow start to the 2011-12 season for Ricker but it didnt keep her from racing to one heck of a finish.
It took more than two years for the West Vancouver native to win gold in a World Cup race after she won the Olympic snowboard cross in 2010 but, once she did, it took less than a month to repeat the feat. Ricker won March 14 in Valmalenco, Italy to give her her second win in as many tries after she reached the top of the podium Feb. 21 in Stoneham, Que. The win thrust Ricker into the middle of the chase for the Crystal Globe with the final race held March 16, also in Valmalenco.
With the Globe on the line Ricker, now a Squamish resident, blasted out of the gate and took an early lead in Fridays final race. With a third straight win in her sight Ricker was tripped up by a bump in the final corner and ended up in fifth place. Teammate Dominique Maltais from Petite-Rivière-St-Françis, Que., finished fourth in the finale, scoring enough points to edge out Ricker in the Globe standings 4,200 points to 3,950.
After the event the always-sunny Ricker put her final race of the season in perspective.
I had two goals for the day, to give 110 per cent and to be happy with the outcome whether I won the race and Globe or not, she said in a Snowboard Canada release. I thought to myself, what would Sarah (Burke) do? She would have given it her best, and smiled like she always did and she probably would have spun a 1080 on the last jump.
Ricker was stoked that she, Maltais and Bulgarias Alexandra Jekova, who finished third in the Globe standings, had produced such an exciting finish to the season.
The stage was set for the perfect finale of the season, having Alexandra, Dom, and myself qualified one, two and three, she said. Even in the final run, it came down to the last turn to determine the Crystal Globe. It's these situations that make the sport what it is and why SBX is so fun to watch. I'm proud of Dom for her fantastic season.
Though she didnt win the Globe, the 33-year-old Ricker certainly served notice that she is back in form and will be tough to beat as the winter-sport world gears up for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The next two years are going to be great, she said.
With the 2011-12 World Cup season over the last event on the calendar for the national team is the Canadian championships scheduled for April 3-4 in Nakiska, Alta.
