You’ve got to hand it to Gavin Rowell.
His willingness to push himself to the edge of disaster as a World Cup ski cross racer is starting to pay off.
Now in his fifth season racing against the world’s best, the 25-year-old Prince George native rose to the challenge Saturday on the slopes in Gudauri, Georgia.
“Definitely my best result this season, and it’s feeling good to get in there and battle,” Rowell said in an email to The Citizen.
“It’s a super-cool experience racing in Georgia. The skiing this year has been aggressive, and it’s definitely taken some time to figure it out and get in there. It’s been a bit of a slow start to the season, but I have a couple more venues left.”
Rowell qualified 28th out of 46 skiers. Only the top 32 advanced to the races Friday and Saturday. Rowell went on to place 24th in Friday’s race.
In ski cross, four skiers leave the start gate in each heat, usually in close proximity as they jostle for position on a steep course with jumps and tight corners. Only the top two advance to the next round.
Rowell, a former member of the Prince George Alpine Ski Team, started racing at the NorAm level in 2016.
He posted his best World Cup result a year ago in the season’s final race when he won the small final in Idre Fjall, Sweden, and finished fifth. That came three months after he placed seventh in Arosa, Switzerland. He also had a 14th-place finish on Jan. 21, 2023, in Idre Fjall.
The World Cup tour returns to Canada for the next race in Craigleith, Ont., near Collingwood. Qualifying is on March 12, with races scheduled for March 13 and 14.
“I’m excited to get back to Canada for the next one,” Rowell said.
Reece Howden of Cultus Lake won Saturday’s race to stay close to the top of the leaderboard in the Crystal Globe standings.
Friday’s race winner, Simone Deromedis of Italy, leads the World Cup standings with 799 points, followed by Florian Wilmsmann of Germany in second (700) and Howden (658) in third. Rowell ranks 28th (405).
Canadians occupy the top two positions in the women’s World Cup standings. India Sherritt of Cranbrook leads (795), with Marielle Thompson of Whistler in second (744) and Fanny Smith of Switzerland in third (716).
Sherritt won the small final Saturday to finish fifth overall. She has placed in the top five in all 13 races this season.
Thompson was injured in training Friday and did not race in Gudauri.
The course in Gudauri will be used again this weekend when the World Cup snowboard cross tour visits Georgia.
Prince George athletes Meryeta O’Dine, Evan Bichon, and Colby Graham are competing on the snowboard cross tour.
