December 16, 2014 - 3:52 PM
CAREZZA, Italy - Canadian snowboard team veterans Caroline Calve and Jasey-Jay Anderson kicked off the season in style Tuesday by reaching the podium at the FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup.
Calve, from Gatineau, Que., won silver in the women's parallel giant slalom while Anderson, from Lac-Superieur, Que., took bronze in the men's event.
''It feels great to finish on the podium,'' said Calve. "I would have liked to finish first, but I think that if I would have been able to choose the blue course, I would have had a better chance. The red course surprised me in the final. But I'm very happy with second place.''
Calve's only loss in the elimination round was to Marion Kreiner of Austria in the final. The Canadian defeated Ariane Lavigne of Mont-Tremblant, Que., in the round of 16, Anke Karstens of Germany in the quarter-final and Russia's Natalia Soboleva in the semifinal.
Nadia Ochner of Italy took the bronze. Marianne Leeson of Burlington, Ont., was 13th and Lavigne finished 15th.
In the men's competition, Roland Fischnaller of Italy delighted the home crowd with an easy victory after Zan Kosir of Slovenia crashed out in the finals. Anderson, who won gold at the Vancouver Olympics, defeated Rok Marguc of Slovenia for the bronze and his first World Cup medal since 2010.
"I didn't expect a result like this,'' Anderson said. ''But when things are good you can expect the unexpected. This was my kind of race. The snow was forgiving, you could be very aggressive and you had to be precise also. I was pretty comfortable today."
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014