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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Duce, Strong win silver on second day of snowboard world cup finals LA MOLINA, Spain – Heidi Jo Duce and Evan Strong grabbed silver medals on the final day of competition at the International Paralympic Committee Alpine Skiing Para-Snowboard World Cup Finals in La Molina, Spain on Wednesday. Strong (Nevada City, Calif.) finished on the podium for the second time this week in the men’s lower limb impairment class. After winning the first day of snowboard cross competition, Strong took the runner-up spot today, only nine-hundredths of a second behind Matti Suur-Hamari of Finland. Keith Gabel (Ogden, Utah) rounded out the podium, with his second bronze medal of the competition, while Mike Shea (Castaic, Calif.) finished just shy of the podium in fourth. Duce (Ouray, Calif.) moved up from a sixth place yesterday to finish on the podium today in the women’s lower limb impairment class. Duce edged out Lisa Bunschoten of the Netherlands to claim the silver by less than a tenth of a second. Team USA’s Nicole Roundy (Bountiful, Utah) was less than a second away from the podium as she finished fourth. Amy Purdy (Las Vegas, Nev.), who finished second Tuesday, did not race today. Bibian Mentel of the Netherlands maintained her undefeated streak to claim the women’s overall world cup title with a perfect 7,000 points. Duce finished second with 4,000 points, followed by Bunschoten with 3,950. Shea won the men’s overall world cup title after winning four of the seven races this season to give him 5,800 points. Strong finished second with 5,000 points. The world cup finals mark the last international competition before men’s and women’s snowboard cross for athletes with a lower limb impairment debuts at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games on March 14 as a part of the alpine skiing program. The U.S. Paralympic Snowboarding Team was nominated in early February. Complete results and more information are available at Paralympic.org. For more information, please contact Katie Branham, U.S. Paralympics, at 719-866-3302 or[email protected]. |
