Canada's Marielle Thompson earns 45th World Cup ski cross podium
2014 Olympic champion races to silver in Sweden
Marielle Thompson captured a silver medal in a World Cup ski cross sprint race event in Idre Fjall, Sweden, on Wednesday.
The Whistler, B.C., native, who won gold in the 2014 Olympics, finished just behind Switzerland's Fanny Smith at the women's big final.
Right out of the gates, Smith and Thompson had great starts.
After the second jump, Smith had a 0.25 second lead on the Canadian, who was comfortably in second place.
Smith continued to ski well and held her lead throughout the entire time while Thompson finished strong to hold on to a second-place finish. Thompson finished just 0.19 seconds back of Smith and beat Talina Gantenbein of Switzerland by 0.31 seconds.
"The course got a lot slower throughout the day, so we really had to adapt," Thompson said after her race. "I had a fast training run and I'm feeling a lot better after some time off. I always love coming back here, I love the big jumps, all the airtime, and going fast. I'm looking forward to the full-length course."
WATCH | Marielle Thompson takes home silver:
The second-place finish earned Thompson 800 FIS points.
Thompson had the best finish for the Canadian women with Courtney Hoffos finishing ninth, Tiana Gairns and Zoe Chore being tied in 13th, and Hannah Schmidt finishing in 17th.
On the men's side, Reece Howden led the way for the Canadians with a fifth-place finish.
"I wasn't sure if I was going to able to keep it (the leader's bib) or not. I am excited to get back after it on the full-length course. I'm hungry for more," Reece said.
Chris Del Bosco and Brady Leman tied for 13th, while Carson Cook and Kris Mahler tied for 33rd and Jared Schmidt finished in 48th.
