Canadians Thompson, Leman capture ski-cross medals at World Cup final

VEYSONNAZ, Switzerland – Canadians Marielle Thompson and Brady Lemay captured ski-cross medals Sunday at the World Cup final.

Thompson, of Whistler, B.C., captured the women’s event for her fifth World Cup medal in 11 races. This season, she competed in nine big finals and one small final and finished ranked third in the overall standings.

“I feel like I skied really well,” she said. “I was behind in the final, and I knew I had lots of speed in the bottom of the course, so I tried to pump the rollers as best I could and managed to make a pass and come away with the win.

“I’m really happy to cap off the season that way. Coming back from injury, I didn’t really know what to expect, so to be third in the world is pretty amazing.”

Leman, of Calgary, was second in the men’s event. He finishes the season with a gold _ recorded at Blue Mountain Resort in January _ a silver and two bronze medals for fifth in the overall men’s ski-cross standings.

“Big battle with the wind today _ you never really knew what was going to happen,” he said. “So you had to fight all the way to the finish.

“I was skiing for the win _ I would have loved to have won, but it was a tough race so I’m really proud to finish the year strong (with a) second (place finish).”

Brittany Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was fourth in the women’s event and finished ranked fifth overall.