Morning Star Staff
Vernon’s Kevin Hill has been sporting a frown for most of the 2016 FIS Snowboard World Cup season. That frown is now turned upside down.
The 29-year-old Olympian raced to the best World Cup result of his career in the final snowboard cross event of the season Sunday in sun-drenched Baqueira Beret, Spain.
Hill struck silver behind Australian Alex Pullin, while Spain’s Lucas Eguibar rounded out the podium in the Big Final with bronze. Brockhoff and Pullin secured a double win for Australia.
Hill’s previous best finish in the circuit was third, which he managed twice last season and once in 2013. Last season, he also picked up a gold medal at the 2015 Winter X Games.
“It was great to finish this season with my best World Cup finish in one of the toughest finals I’ve seen all season,” Hill told The Morning Star.
“I really needed to get on the podium before the season finished. I was getting pretty down with my results this season. I had been taken out four races, crashed myself and slipped out of the gate once. So out of nine races this year, I’ve really only raced three decent ones so this really tops it off.”
Hill, who carries major sponsorship from Silver Star Mountain Resort, Rancho Vignola and Oakley. won €5430,00 for the silver medal. Government officials docked him €1303.00 in taxes, leaving him with €4136.80.
“I felt really strong this season but didn’t have the best of luck, so winning my semifinal against the World Cup overall winner and beating him in the finals was a really good feeling. Along with Lucas who won the race two weeks ago in Switzerland.”
Said race champion Pullin: “I loved the course that they built here. It’s been a great race. Everyone did a fantastic job, and I think we really saw that in the final of the last four guys. It’s been a great finish of the season to win here in Spain. I’m already looking forward to the next year.”
Men’s title winner Pierre Vaultier (France), who had secured his fourth career Crystal Globe, already ahead of the World Cup tour’s finale placed fourth.
“I didn’t have to fight for the Globe anymore but you want to fight for the victory,” said Vaultier. “So, it wasn’t the final I was going for. I came here to win not to be fourth. But it feels good to officially have the title under my belt.”
Italy’s Michela Moioli brought home a tiny lead of 40 points to claim her first career World Cup title after a total of eight races this season.
In front of a stellar crowd in the Pyrenees, Brockhoff earned her first career win ahead of Eva Samkova (Czech Republic) and Chloe Trespeuch of France.
As World Cup leader Moioli had won the small final, Samkova would have needed to win this winter’s final event in order to pass the Italian shredder in the race for the Crystal Globe.
In the end, the Olympic champion from the Czech Republic crossed the line in second spot, only a nose behind Brockhoff, finishing off the season with 5.060 points and, therefore only 40 points behind of Moioli (5,100) who became the fourth ever woman to win a World Cup title for Italy and the first ever to do so in snowboard cross.