SOCHI, February 19 (R-Sport) - Former ski cross world champion Kelsey Serwa of Canada won the women’s World Cup event in Sochi on Tuesday, with Victor Oehling Norberg taking victory for Sweden in the men’s competition.
Serwa, 23, took her fifth career World Cup title in the first major test event for ski cross at next year’s Olympic venue, the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.
Second place also went to Canada with victory for Marielle Thompson, while World Cup leader Fanny Smith took third for Switzerland despite falling in the final.
Smith leads the standings by 60 points from France’s Ophelie David, who was first in qualifying but failed to make the final, coming fifth overall. Serwa is third, 75 points adrift of Smith.
In the men’s event, Oehling Norberg took a surprise first World Cup win, beating Canada’s Christopher Delbosco into second place, whole Germany’s Andreas Schauer was third.
Alex Fiva of Switzerland was fourth and takes the overall World Cup lead, after second-placed Armin Niederer, also Swiss, finished 25th in Sochi. Niederer is 45 points adrift, with third-placed Czech Tomas Kraus a further 107 points off.
Russia’s competitors struggled on their home track, with two men reaching the quarterfinals and all four women’s competitors out in the first round.
The Extreme Park is located west of the Rosa Khutor plateau in Krasnaya Polyana, almost 1,200 meters above sea level and near the Olympic Alpine skiing facilities.
