Shea, Suur-Hamari tie with one race remaining

The winner of the snowboard-cross World Cup will be decided on Thursday (17 March), with Shea aiming to defend his title.

The USA’s Michael Shea and Finland’s world champion Matti Suur-Hamari are tied at the top of the snowboard-cross World Cup rankings with one race to go, after the Fin claimed the race victory at the IPC Snowboard World cup Finals in Trentino, Italy, on Wednesday (16 March).

Suur-Hamari and Shea head into the final race with 5,000 points each in the men’s SB-LL2.

Shea took second in Trentino behind Suur-Hamari in their big final.

Canada’s Alex Massie claimed third in the race after winning his small final ahead of teammate John Leslie.

The winner of the snowboard-cross World Cup will be decided on Thursday (17 March), with Shea aiming to defend his title.

The Netherlands’ world champion Chris Vos now has a 1,000 point lead over Austria’s Reinhold Schett in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL1. Vos beat his Austrian rival in the men’s snowboard cross SB-LL1.

Vos’ compatriot Mike Ultee took third in his race with Norway’s Kristian Moen.

Winners of World Cup globes in other classifications were decided on Wednesday.

Despite a fourth-place finish, Austria’s Patrick Mayrhofer topped the rankings in the men’s snowboard cross SB-UL.

The course belonged to Simon Patmore on the day, as the Australian won his big final over Italy’s Roberto Cavicchi in second.

Cavicchi’s teammate Manuel Pozzerle was third, moving him to second in the points rankings.

In the women’s snowboard cross SB-UL the Netherlands’ Renske van Beek secured her overall win with victory against Italy’s Sara Dorigatti.

In the absence of the USA’s Nicole Roundy, who had already claimed the overall World Cup in snowboard-cross, France’s Cecile Hernandez-Cervellon picked up maximum points in the women’s SB-LL1.

It was a double-Dutch final in the women’s SB-LL2 with Bibian Mentel-Spee edging out Lisa Bunschoten to claim the No.1 spot on the leader board for the season.

The World Cup finals continue with the final snowboard-cross race of the season on Thursday (17 March) and conclude with banked slalom on Friday (18 March).

Full results are available on the IPC Snowboard results page.