Ski Cross, Women

There were several favorites going into the inaugural Women’s Skier-Cross event at the Winter Olympics. The top three podium spots at the Winter X Games in January (where the sport is known as “Skier X”) went to Ophélie David of France, and Ashleigh McIvor and Kelsey Serwa of Canada respectively. Each also had at least one victory during the 2009-2010 World Cup circuit, and McIvor entered the event as the 2009 World Champion. A fourth skier, Anna Holmlund of Sweden, was also a serious contender, having won the first two events of the latest World Cup season.

A serious crash by Yuliya Livinskaya during the first heat of the 1/8 final placed the event on hold for some time, while a later one by David during the 1/4 final placed her out of contention for a medal. Then, in a somewhat surprising turn, both Selwa and Holmlund, who were in the same heat, failed to advance to the final round, placing third and fourth respectively. This left McIvor as the final favorite and top remaining qualifier and she did not disappoint, capturing the gold medal ahead of Norway’s Hedda Berntsen and France’s Marion Josserand and never failing to lose the lead. McIvor, a native of Vancouver, had written an essay at the University of British Columbia as to why Skier-Cross should be an Olympic sport and, shortly prior to her victory, had claimed that it was her )destiny) to win gold in 2010.