Squamish was well represented at the FIS snowboard World Cup finals in Spain last weekend as two locals hoisted the coveted Crystal Globe, and two more took to the slopes in competition.
Maëlle Ricker clinched another triumphant record by being the first Canadian woman athlete to take the overall Crystal Globe thanks to a halfpipe performance in Saturday's (March 20) contest at La Molina.
Justin Lamoureux also earned a landmark victory as the first Canadian overall male winner in halfpipe.
Ricker had already earned a Crystal Globe on March 12 by taking third place snowboard cross finals in Italy.
Saturday was an anxious day as she raced snowboard alpine Olympic Gold medallist Nicolien Saeurbreij of the Netherlands.
If Saeurbreij finished fourth or better in her race, she would have bumped Ricker from first place overall.
"I lost a lot of speed. Helene [Olafsen] was so fast and passed me. It was a course where you cannot make any mistakes," said Ricker.
Suaerbreij finished sixth giving Ricker a mere 90-point lead with a tally of 5,290.
Lamoureux's victory came as a surprise even to him since it was a last-minute decision that led to his participation in the FIS World Cup circuit.
He placed fourth and took the overall World Cup lead in the Italian portion of the circuit, so decided to go on to Spain, he said, "to try and win the globe."
And, he said, he's glad he did.
"Really excited to have won it and was super happy to share it with the rest of the team that was up there," he told media.
Lamoureux posted a score of 38.5 points from two runs for an overall total of 2,400 points. He finished ahead of Finland's Janne Korpi in the overall standings by 670 points.
Squamish's Tom Velisek also made a mark during the day's events finishing in 16th place overall. He said he's still upbeat despite his disappointing final.
"Despite this being my worst year for results on the World Cup tour since I started eight years ago, I feel great and am happy to be racing with the best in the world."
Squamish's Rob Fagan finished 17th.
