Canada show snowboard class in Olympic build-up

Snowboarding Winter Sports Post a comment

Posted: Monday 15th December 2008 | 13:08

CANADA'S snowboarders have the ideal motivation in the 12-month build up to the Winter Olympics - home snow advantage at Vancouver.

And it was little surprise they were the dominated the opening parallel giant slalom in the LG Snowboard World Cup season at Limone Piedmonte.

Despite blizzard conditions, Matthew Morison won the opening race ahead of France's Sylvain Dufour while team-mate, Jasey Jay Anderson, took bronze. Great Britain's Adam McLeish finished 40^th out of 48 starters.

Canada's Kimiko Zakreski just missed out in the women's event - beaten by Austria's Doris Guenther, while Germany's Anke Zakreski was third.

"We've got a great team and it's really motivating to be a part of it," said Morison.

"The Olympics is on the horizon for us but we're trying to stay focused on this season as a priority.

"It's great to start the season with a win and it was tough out there. The snow was coming down and vision was bad but I always thought it could be my day."