United States beats Spain by half a board in Snowboard Cross
teams final.

France wipes out in ladies
The first snowboard cross teams' final in the history of World Championships has taken place
in Sierra Nevada, with United States in the lead, followed by Spain and Canada in the male
category. As for the ladies', France demolished the competition with teams 1 and 2 achieving
gold and silver medals, relegating United States to the bronze.
The Spanish aspirations of winning a new medal in Snowboard Cross bore an almost-gold
fruit. Baumgartner and Kearney (USA) beat the local athletes in the photo-finish by half a
board to be proclaimed World Champions. Today, not only the track was demanding, but also
the weather, due to the temperature change, the snow fallen in the early morning, and the fog.
Despite these conditions, by the time of the final visibility was good and competition took
place after the excellent work done by the organisation to prepare the trail.
In men, two of the a priori favourite teams, Italy 1 (Matteotti/Visintin) and Australia 1
(Pullin/Lambert) could not make it to semifinals, where team Spain and team USA1 faced
each other for the first time, with Spain qualifying for the final in the first position, ahead of
USA1, and leaving yesterdays' gold medalist Pierre Vaultier (FRA1) out of the final.
In a tight final, which was decided on a photo finish, Kerney/Baumgartner (USA) won Hernández/Eguibar (ESP) by half a board length. As an strategy, United States used Kerney's
starts and Baumgartner's corpulence to protect his position in the trail. In the meanwhile, the
Spanish team followed the tactics of taking advantage of the slipstream and surmount the rest
of competitors. Baumgartner's board arrived a few centimetres before Eguibar's, who obtained
his second silver medal of the Championships. Hill/Robanske (CAN) got the bronze medal,
and the fourth position went for the Austrian team Schairer/Haemmerle.
As for the ladies, six teams were candidates for the places of honour in a track not too foggy
but slightly changing due to snow conditions and the wind. In the first heat, the French Nelly
Moenne Loccoz and Chloe Trespeuch qualified together with the North American team Lindsey Jacobellis/Faye Gulini, since Great Britain did not start.
In the second semifinal, team Italy 1 (Raffaela Brutto/Michela Moioli) won out over team
France 2 (French Manon Petit/Charotte Bankes). World Cup leader Eva Samkova (CZE) had
bad luck again, and was left out of the final alongside her team mate Vendula Hopjakova.
Women's final was treacherous. The first Italian and North American relievers suffered a fall
that favoured both French teams, with a gold medal for Moenne/Trespeuch (FRA1), and an
unexpected silver medal of team France 2 Petit/Bankes. The North American Jacobellis/Gulini ended in the third position, since team Italy 1 (Brutto/Moioli) got disqualifed.