Wescott Back on Top at Telluride

TELLURIDE-MOUNTAIN VILLAGE, CO (Dec. 14) - In blizzard conditions at Telluride, two-time Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) climbed back on top of the FIS Snowboarding World Cup podium, taking a photo finish win in the USANA Snowboardcross Cup over Australia's Alex Pullin. It was a sweet change from two years earlier at Telluride when Wescott found himself on the losing end of a photo finish. Pullin and Wescott battled all afternoon, with the Australian winning over Wescott in the quarterfinals and semifinals. In the final four-man heat, Pullin and Wescott went back and forth for the lead three times with the Olympic champion barely holding on against a hard-charging Pullin at the finish. Canada's Dominique Maltais won the women's title, with U.S. Snowboarding's Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City) ninth.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Two-time Olympic champion Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME) won the USANA Snowboardcross Cup at Telluride in a photo finish.
• Wescott held off Australia's Alex Pullin, who had beaten him in the quarterfinals and semifinals, for his first World Cup win in two seasons.
• Two years ago in Telluride, Wescott lost a photo finish to France's Pierre Vaultier.
• The comeback win came after Wescott had ended his season early last January with an injury. In his return to the World Cup last week, he failed to qualify.
• Nick Baumgartner (Iron River, MI), third a week ago, finished seventh.
• Nate Holland (Squaw Valley, CA), Alex Deibold (Park City, UT) and rookie Trevor Jacob (Mammoth Mountain, CA) all moved into quarterfinals before dropping out.
• Dominique Maltais of Canada took the women's win with U.S. Snowboarding rider Faye Gulini (Salt Lake City) ninth.
• NBC Sport Network will air the USANA Snowboardcross Cup at 4:00 p.m. EST Saturday, Dec. 15.
• NBC will air the USANA Ski and Snowboardcross Cup at 3:00 p.m. EST Saturday, Dec. 22.

QUOTES
Seth Wescott
It feels really good to be back. I didn't even get into heats in Austria last week. So when I hole-shotted that first one I said, 'here we go, I love doing this.

I had another good upper section, I pulled drag on (Canadian Chris) Robanske and got by him by the second triple. I had been having problems on that second straightaway all week. The second set of rollers were a little choppy so it was hard to make an effective pump. I was almost happy each run when someone would come by me and I could pull draft again.

So when Alex came by me I knew I could set him up for turn six. I had a great turn five and just carried that momentum. On the lower section, it was snowing so hard that I was just waiting off the finish jump because I didn't go far enough. I was waiting for someone to slingshot me. But I didn't want to look, I was just down in my tuck and hoping that finish line would come as fast as it could.

RESULTS
Official Results
 

FOLLOW US
Twitter: USsnowboarding
Facebook: USsnowboarding