Christopher Del Bosco has history with Les Contamines, France. It was the site of his first World Cup start in 2008 and his first podium a year later. On Jan. 16, the Canadian ski cross athlete collected his first World Cup win in nearly a year at Les Contamines and announced he was well ahead of schedule in returning from knee surgery. Del Bosco has had his fair share of glory, but he has also been on the just-missed list too many times for his liking — as in fourth at the Olym- pics and second in the World Cup ski cross standings the last two sea- sons. He’s looking for some redemption, and the win at Les Contamines gave him “a shot,” he said, to go for the ski cross title. “It’s been an interesting year,” he said. “One week a guy wins and the next week he doesn’t qualify.” So far there have been five different ski cross winners in five World Cups so Del Bosco figures he’s right in the mix, and that in itself is something of a godsend. Del Bosco had figured on “a long year off,” after injuring his knee late last season, but attention to rehab and a bit of luck has him reaping re- sults. “I can feel it every now and then,” he said, “but minor, minor things. There’s no swelling or inflammation. It doesn’t affect my skiing at all.” It sure didn’t appear to slow him down at Les Contamines, where he blasted out of the finals start gate and left three top competitors in his wake. Austrian Andreas Matt got his third second-place of the season, Russian Egor Korotkov scored his first career Cup podium result, and Swiss Alex Fiva made a World Cup final for the second time in 11 out- ings. “I knew it would come down to the start really, knew if I could get out in front it would be alright,” said Del Bosco. “I got out fast and never looked back.” In the women’s event, superstar Ophelie David got her first win of the season in a bid to claim her eighth-straight ski cross crown. She got ahead of Canadian Kelsey Serwa, the second-place winner and cur- rent standing leader in the finals. Anna Holmlund was third and Mario Josserand fourth. “Definitely one of my goals is the tour and definitely World Champs,” said Del Bosco. “I’m looking for some redemption there. And the X Games is going to be huge. I set my goals pretty high.”
Del Bosco Wins LES CONTAMINES SKI CROSS BY HANK MCKEE
Christopher Del Bosco races
in Italy in December, a few
weeks before winning at Les
Contamines.
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