Maltais makes it 3 straight snowboard wins

There's no stopping Dominique Maltais.

The snowboarder from Petite-Riviere-St-Francois, Que., captured her third consecutive World Cup race Friday in Telluride, Colo.

"I was pinching myself on the way down," Maltais told Canada Snowboard in a phone interview. "I didn't think that three wins in three starts could be possible. I won each race by a large margin. I was really fast on the course, and really happy that everything went well."

Fellow Canadian Maelle Ricker of Squamish, B.C., was third Friday in the snowboard cross event after finishing second to Maltais in the first two World Cup events of the season.

Entering Friday's competition, Maltais led the World Cup standings with 2,000 points, followed by Ricker with 1,600.

"I changed snowboard this summer, but the key to this success, really, was my training this summer, which gave me lots of confidence," Maltais, a firefighter in Montreal, said. "I feel good and in control on this new board. I am not scared to push the lines, and I am confident it will react well.

"I will never get tired of winning, especially when they are nice and clean races such as these ones. Whether you like it or not, [snowboard cross] is a sport where there are lots of factors you simply can't control. These last three races were controlled races, and nothing came to disturb me. It's a lot more fun to win cleanly."

Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria placed second in Colorado.

No Canadian men advanced to the final.