Ski Cross, Men

The Canadians had swept the Skier-Cross podium at the Winter X Games in January (known as “Skier X” at that tournament), but the silver and bronze medal finishers were out with injuries, leaving only gold medalist Christopher Del Bosco to compete at the Winter Olympics. Del Bosco also had two victories at on the 2009-2010 World Cup circuit, a record matched at that point in the season only by Switzerland’s Mike Schmid, another favorite in the event. Other medal contenders were Simon-Raphael Stickl of Germany, Xavier Kuhn of France, and Andreas Matt of Austria, all of whom had one title in the competition in the 2009-2010 World Cup.

In the 1/8 final, Kuhn crashed out and Stickl was eliminated, leaving Del Bosco, Schmid, and Matt as the major medal contenders. Audun Grønvold of Norway, whose best finish had been second during the World Cup, rounded out the foursome that would compete in the final. Schmid was the clear leader in the last race, and Matt was not far behind him. Del Bosco and Grønvold battled it out for the bronze throughout the race, with the former gaining the edge shortly before the end of the course. During a bid to move into second place, however, Del Bosco lost balance during a jump and crashed out, assuring Grønvold the bronze.