Now that his shock absorbers are putting some spring back into his step, Kevin MacDonald is getting closer to his goal of locking up a spot on Canada's World Cup ski cross team.
He was king of the hill both days at Tabor Mountain, winning the Nor-Am big finals Friday and Saturday, setting himself up well for his next big challenge next weekend when he gets thrown into the mix with Canada's A-team in Solitude, Utah.
The 23-year-old Calgary skier has just returned to the racing scene after undergoing ACL knee surgery, needed after he wiped out landing a jump in the last race of the Nor-Am season in April 2015.
Now with two Nor-Am wins in the bag, having finished third and fourth at sprint races two weekends ago in Edmonton, there's nothing holding back MacDonald. He's prepared to do whatever it takes to make the jump to the World Cup team and he has a shot at competing in World Cup races next month in Feldberg, Germany.
"I jut have to find the right opportunities that will allow me to progress to that level," said MacDonald, a native of Mississauga, Ont. "We're heading off to Utah now and we have the national team coming over from Europe as well as the Swiss national team and that's a great opportunity to compare yourself with them. If you're keeping up and challenging senior team guys, they like that."
MacDonald led Saturday's big final from start to finish, holding off the challenges of Reece Howden of Cultus Lake and Felix Belzcyk of Banff, Alta., who finished second and third respectively. Trent McCarthy of Edmonton was fourth.
"I was having a bit of a tough time getting out of the gate and ended up sixth overall (Friday) and today I focused on getting out of the gate quick and I came out strong - nice and smooth - and had no problem getting through the semifinals," said Howden. "Kevin is really fast so it's good to get in behind him and give him a run for his money."
In the women's event, which drew 12 skiers, Leah Emaus of Rochester, N.Y., won a close duel in the big final to edge India Sherret of Cranbrook. Abbey McEwen of Edmonton and Anoinette Tansley of Whistler were third and fourth respectively.
Sherret, 20, was first overall Friday and had won two of the first three Nor-Am races and Emaus waited until the third turn to make her move on the 2015 world junior champion.
"She got inside me and just kind of took off," said Sherret. "I was in the draft a little bit but it was pretty tough to catch up actually. There are definitely passing opportunities on the course but I was just a bit out of touch at the end there."
What's remarkable about Emaus's win Saturday and her second-place finish Friday is this is only her first season racing ski cross. Emaus's first-ever ski cross races were in November on the Europa Cup circuit in Pitzal, Italy, where she finished 20th and 21st. She was fifth and seventh in her first Nor-Am events in Edmonton. Her freestyle skiing background is in moguls, aerials and slope style events but she took five years off of competitive skiing to focus on soccer.
Emaus, 22, played NCAA Division 1 college soccer at the University of West Virginia and helped the Mountaineers to a second-place national finish last year. Now based in Colorado where she trains for skiing, the aspiring orthopedic surgeon and is hoping to keep racing ski cross as much as her future studies will allow.
"I graduated early in December and studied exercise physiology and I'm going to med school so this is my gap year," she said. "I don't know if I'll be able to do this next year but I'll see how I do. Med school can always be prolonged."
Ned Ireland of Kelowna, who moved up three positions in Friday's semifinal to finish third overall on the first day of racing, won Saturday's small final to determine fifth through eighth overall in a men's field of 21 entrants. Ireland crossed the line ahead of Erik Sparkowski of Glastonbury, Conn., Jason Oliemans of Smithers, and Prince George's own Gavin Rowell, who was ninth overall on Friday.
"It was a pretty good weekend - I made small finals and that was good for me," said Rowell. "There's some pretty fierce competitors here."
Rowell, 17, is in his second year based in Kelowna where he trains with the Okanagan ski team coached by Derek Trussler. Rowell likes ski cross but for now he's more focused on racing alpine events. He'll be in Lake Louise for GS and slalom races next week and has downhill races coming up in February in Kimberley.
"Living in Kelowna has been a good thing for me, better training for sure," said Rowell. "There's not a lot of FIS athletes in the north, they're mostly down south."
Mara Bishop of Calgary took the small final heat to finish fifth overall out of 12 women. Bishop got to the line ahead of, in respective order, Zoe Chore of Cranbrook,, Alexa Velicic of Calgary and Mara White of Tahoma, Calif.
