Holland caps weekend with WC podium finish
(Courtesy photo Sandpoint native Nate Holland catches some air during a snowboardcross World Cup event last weekend in Utah. He earned a podium spot in the team race, and just missed out in the individual competition.
SOLITUDE, Utah — Sandpoint native Nate Holland earned a World Cup podium spot on Sunday in the team race of an FIS World Cup Snowboarcross event at Solitude Mountain Resort in Utah.
In Sunday’s team event, Rosie Mancari, of Anchorage, Alaska and Stowe, Vt.’s Lindsey Jacobellis took the win for the ladies, while Alex Deibold, of Boulder, Colo., and Nate Holland from Squaw Valley, Calif. combined to take third place for the men behind the Italian team featuring reigning world champion Luca Matteotti and his teammate Emanuel Perathone, and the Austrian team of Julian Lueftner and Lukas Pachner who finished second.
During Saturday’s indivual competition, Holland raced his way to the final heat, where he finished fourth among 68 riders, edged in a close final that was broadcast on NBC. Alessandro Haemmerle squeaked out of a nail-biter to take the win over new World Cup leader Omar Visintin of Italy, while American Alex Deibold rounded out the podium in third just ahead of Holland.
The snowy conditions that plagued Saturday’s individual event moved out of the Wasatch for Sunday and the course stayed relatively clear of snow overnight, which made conditions much faster for Sunday’s team event.
All the U.S. athletes were happy to be competing in a World Cup on home soil, and Holland made the most of his opportunity on the second day in the team race.
Deibold took the lead early on, but had a bobble down the course that left Holland fighting from behind in the men’s event that saw several wash-outs, passes and tight maneuvers, all ingredients that make snowboardcross a great show.
Diebold felt like he let his U.S. teammate down on his leg.
“I think our finish today could be pretty squarely put on my shoulders,” Deibold said of their third-place result. “Nate was definitely the fastest guy out there. I had the lead, I was trying to protect my line and I just unfortunately made a small bobble and it cost us.”
Holland did make a great effort to get the American team on the podium.
“All the gates dropped, I was off the back, I just pinned it as hard as I could,” he said. “I know I’m pretty fast on this course and in these conditions I think I’m the fastest… I made a strong push, made up a lot of ground, but it wasn’t enough for the win today.”
Holland is now ranked No. 4 on the World Cup points list among the 75 top pros.
This week’s event was the first international event staged at the Utah resort and served as the official test event for the 2019 World Championships.
The snowboardcross athletes will next travel to Bansko, Bulgaria for a World Cup event Feb. 2-5.