ANDY BLATCHFORD

January 21, 2010 8:06 p.m.

Re posted from MetroNews Vancouver

STONEHAM, Que. – Maelle Ricker and Dominique Maltais hit the snowboard cross podium Thursday, while another Canadian officially punched his ticket to the Vancouver Winter Games.

Maelle Ricker wins gold again!

Ricker, the world No. 1, won gold and third-ranked Maltais captured the bronze in the World Cup final.

The top-ranked Pierre Vaultier of France won the men’s side, giving him four golds and a silver in five starts this season.

But Mike Robertson, of Canmore, Alta., may have been happiest rider on the hill after grabbing fifth place.

Robertson, 24, is headed to his first Olympics after racing to his third top-five finish – the last hurdle he needed to clear, in the last event, to make the Canadian team.

“It feels like a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” he said at the bottom of the hill after the race.

“I’ve been working all season to get that and I waited to the last possible minute, but it’s very good to get it.

“I’m a pretty good procrastinator, but I try not to with my snowboarding.”

Canadian coaches still have to choose between three men for the last spot on the Olympic boardercross team, to be announced Monday.

Drew Neilson of North Vancouver, B.C., and Kevin Hill of Vernon, B.C., made strong cases for themselves Thursday, finishing fourth and sixth, respectively.

“It’s the best result I’ve had this year and it came at the best possible time,” said Neilson, 35, who phoned his wife right after the medal ceremony.

“That’s all I thought about all day – just about how hard I’ve worked and how much my family sacrificed and how much my wife has supported me and I just want to get Vancouver.”

Tom Velisek of Squamish, B.C., who could have secured a spot on the team with a top-five finish, came 18th.

Ricker of West Vancouver, B.C., and Maltais of Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., are the only Canadian women going to the Olympics in the rough-and-tumble snowboard discipline.

The women have climbed the podium together four of the last five World Cup races this season, but in Thursday’s wild final, Maltais barely finished.

A few berms into the race, she caught an edge while trying to avoid Ricker as the Canadian riders were leading their two opponents.

“We were fighting for the first spot pretty much on the first bank and then Maelle and I we were totally far ahead,” Maltais said afterwards.

The next thing she remembers is flying into a safety fence and bouncing back towards the course.

Then, Sandra Frei of Switzerland slammed into her, breaking her board.

Maltais missed a gate in the fall, so she had to climb back up the track to finish the race.

“Just crazy,” she added.

Ricker, who cruised past the finish line way ahead of the other racers, had no idea what happened behind her.

“Usually you can hear noise on your shoulder or you hear the riders behind you … all of a sudden there was just this eerie silence,” Ricker said.

“You like don’t want to look back, but you’re like, ‘What the heck happened?”‘

Norway’s Helene Olafsen took the women’s silver, vaulting her past Maltais to second place in the World Cup snowboard cross standings.

In the men’s final, Americans Graham Watanabe (silver) and 41-year-old snowboarding legend Shaun Palmer (bronze) also made the podium.

Palmer, one of snowboarding’s pioneers, needed at least a second-place result to make the U.S. Olympic squad – an accomplishment that has always eluded him.

Among his many awards in several sports are five world snowboarding championships and six X-Games titles.

Palmer even has his own video game.

The veteran rider wore shades, a white vest and white leather shoes on the podium, where he stood out from his competitors who were still wearing their racing gear.

Disappointment was written all over his face as he hung his head low for the ceremony.

“I so wanted to see him there,” said Neilson, Palmer’s longtime friend.

“It’s heartbreaking for him.”

Rob Fagan of Squamish, B.C., ranked No. 4 in the world, and Francois Boivin of Jonquiere, Que., are also heading to the Games. On Thursday, Boivin came eighth, while Fagan finished 17th.

Meanwhile, Derek Wintermans of Burnaby, B.C., finished 12th and Simon Bonenfant of Mont-Tremblant, Que., came 24th.

News from ©The Canadian Press, 2010