Kevin Drury, Brittany Phelan land 1st podium finishes in World Cup ski cross
Heavy snow prompts cancellation of elimination rounds, finals
Inclement weather helped Canadians Kevin Drury and Brittany Phelan lock down the first World Cup podium appearances of their careers on Tuesday.
Heavy snow prompted officials to cancel the elimination rounds and finals of the Audi FIS Cross Alps Tour event in Arosa, Switzerland over concerns about course safety. Instead, the results and World Cup points were handed out based on the qualification runs.
Unfortunately the competition in Arosa has been canceled... just too much snow on the course creating speed and safety issues... <a href="https://t.co/prG6T90nFC">pic.twitter.com/prG6T90nFC</a>
—@FISfreestyleThis meant that Toronto native Kevin Drury claimed second place in the men's ski cross event with a time of 31.97 seconds, trailing only Swede Viktor Andersson (31.66). Fellow Swede Victor Oehling Norberg finished in third with a time of 32.02 seconds.
Canadians Ian Deans and Dave Duncan just missed the podium in fifth (32.21) and sixth (32.24), respectively.
Drury, 29, had previously finished as high as fourth on two occasions, once at the PyeongChang test event in Feburary 2016, and about a year ago in Montafon, Austria.
Meanwhile, Phelan, 26, from Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que, claimed bronze with a time of 35.02, behind Swede Sandra Naeslund (34.14) and Heidi Zacher (34.96).
Fellow Canadians Georgia Simmerling and Kelsey Serwa finished in fourth and 16th, respectively, with times of 35.21 and 36.50.