Reece Howden captures second gold of season in ski cross World Cup

Reece Howden raced to a gold medal, his second of the season, on Saturday at the ski cross World Cup event in Innichen, Italy.

The Cultus Lake, B.C., native was the lone Canadian to make it to the finals, finishing first in his heat, quarterfinal and semifinal, and held off silver medallist Alex Fiva of Switzerland to be the first to cross the finish line.

Italy’s Simone Deromedis rounded out the men’s podium, taking bronze.

“I was just happy to be able to make some corrections for today and ski cleaner, for the most part, and just send it,” said Howden. “Last race before Christmas, there’s no reason leaving anything in the tank.”

The 26-year-old claimed his second win of the season, picking up his first with a gold medal in Arosa, Switzerland earlier this month. The win on Saturday was the 13th of his career.

Howden is second in the men’s overall standings with 296 points, trailing Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann who currently has 310 points.

On the women’s side, India Sherret made Saturday’s big final, but did not finish. Hannah Schmidt, Marielle Thompson and Courtney Hoffos took the top three spots in the small final.

Sherret is the top Canadian in the World Cup standings with 325 points, just five points ahead of Thompson. Germany’s Daniela Maier, who won gold on Saturday, is in the lead with 369 points.

The next World Cup event is on Jan. 14 in Reiteralm, Austria.