Hannah Schmidt stood out again on home soil Saturday at the Ski Cross World Cup in Nakiska, Alta.
The adopted Quebecer took second place in the small final to end the day in sixth place overall.
Schmidt got off to a good start in her last race of the day and immediately lined up behind the leader, Alexandra Edebo. The two skiers then engaged in a fierce battle until the finish line where the Swede won by a length of ski.
It was a second straight appearance in the small final for Schmidt, who had taken the fifth rung on Friday. The 27-year-old athlete also had her share of success at the previous World Cup, in San Candido (Italy), where she had the best result of her career by finishing just off the podium.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, Schmidt had placed eighth in qualifying. She finished second in her wave in the quarter-finals, but saw her chances of a podium vanish after a fourth place finish in the next round.
The grand finale was marked by the falls of British Columbian Marielle Thompson and Switzerland’s Fanny Smith at the very start of the course. Sweden’s Sandra Naeslund took the opportunity to go alone to her second victory in as many days, her seventh individual since the start of the season.
For their part, Thompson and Smith were decorated with silver and bronze respectively after the video review.
Victim of two falls the day before on this same track, Brittany Phelan could not obtain her ticket for the elimination phase reserved for the 16 best skiers. She is 20th in qualifying.
A Canadian wins
On the men’s side, the competition was won by Canadian Kristofor Mahler.
The Canmore skier edged out Florian Wilmsmann of Germany and Ryan Regez of Switzerland for his second win on the World Cup circuit.
No Quebecers were in action for this second men’s event of the weekend. Chris Del Bosco and Jared Schmidt finished 40th and 44th in qualifying on Thursday.
The next Ski Cross World Cup will be presented in a week in Idre Fjäll, Sweden.