It was an exciting Monday for Team Squamish in the boneyard with Jack Macleod wrapping up U19 dual slalom gold. He faced a worthy challenge in the form of silver medallist Anthony Shelly, with Drake Parker earning bronze.
"I just wanted to have fun," Macleod said. "I almost missed practice because I couldn't get my plate in time, so I was hoping that qualifiers could be my practice. This isn't the biggest Whistler crowd I've seen, but it's definitely cool to finally win a dual slalom because I've been doing it for so long."
After seeding highly, the Squamolian took care of semifinal business against Lewis Allbon to lock in a date with Shelly.
A two-sport talent with Youth Olympic boardercross silver in his trophy case from Gangwon this January, Shelly dropped the opening heat of his own semifinal against Parker. The American was up again in heat no. 2, but skidded out metres before the line.
Shelly took full advantage to beat Parker and gave Macleod two runs for his money.
"I got a little bit lucky with some [of my opponents'] crashes and good conditions," said Shelly. "I also hit my visor on my last run and it fell down in front of my face, so some luck and some bad luck. This was my first-ever time racing a dual slalom, but it's kind of similar to boardercross. I'd rate it 10 out of 10.
"Jack is someone I've looked up to for a lot of my life. I really enjoy watching him ride, and it's cool to be friends with the kids I look up to."
For Macleod, the respect is mutual: "Anthony is sick. He's a super cool guy, he's really fast and super nice. He deserves second—he deserves everything."
'Excited and really happy'
Cami Bragg was her usual nimble self in taking the U17 girls title over Tayte Proulx-Royds. Dropping in for third was Indy Deavoll.
Bragg handily overcame Abbie Glavas before finding herself in the start gate opposite perennial youth contender Proulx-Royds. Their inaugural meeting was close, with the Kelowna native ahead at one point before Bragg surged late to win the round.
Proulx-Royds brought her best once more, but Bragg held on in another close duel for victory.
"I'm excited and really happy," said Bragg. "I've got such good competition and it's super fun to race. I think downhill's at the top [of my favourite races] and then dual slalom. Tayte and I have been close competition for the last three years, and it's really cool to still be so close in our times."
The young Whistlerite continues to build momentum after a runner-up effort two days ago in the Canadian Open DH.
Enter Pretorius
Arleigh Kemp had a strong overall day on her bike, capitalizing on an ill-timed spill by Addison Rutherfurd to qualify for the U15 girls' big final. That, however, is when she ran into Megan Pretorius.
Pretorius, like Shelly, is a newcomer to dual slalom. The diminutive athlete won both of her semifinal rounds over Skye Sherman but quickly found herself behind the eight-ball against the more experienced Kemp. Yet Pretorius kept grinding away, and Kemp lost her balance on the final turn of her next heat.
As a result, it was Pretorius who stood atop the podium ahead of Kemp and Sherman in that order.
"I feel kind of bad for Arleigh because she had a wipeout at the end, but it was really fun and I'm definitely going to do this next year," Pretorius said. "I thought I would do decently, but I'm surprised at how well I placed. Now I know I actually can win."
'Keep looking forward'
Crankworx Whistler continues to treat U19 prospect Matilda Melton well. The teenager grabbed third overall in a Canadian Open DH full of elites before promptly adding dual slalom gold to her resume.
Melton surged past Isla O'Connor by a good tenth of a second in their opening final heat, and her eventual breakthrough was not in doubt despite a respectable second effort by O'Connor.
Emily Wilson, meanwhile, nailed down her bronze medal by getting past Megan Bedard in their small final.
"I'm good, but also very tired," Melton admitted. "Back-to-back [competition] days as well as three days of downhill practice has made me pretty tired, but it's great to be racing in Whistler. Dual slalom is a little bit stressful when you see somebody pulling ahead of you, or you're not sure how far behind they are, but all you can do is keep looking forward.
"I kept making a couple of mistakes in the flat turns at the bottom. It was cool to see something so technical on the slalom track. The racing was super tight today."
Young men, attack
Over in the boys' U15 race, Sebastien Harrisson narrowly fell to victor Eli Bundy but cemented his place on the podium's second step. Mack Manietta, fresh off a dominant Canadian Open DH win, received another piece of hardware in third.
Sebastien and Manietta dueled in a memorable semifinal that saw the latter take an unfortunate fall off his bike. That gave Sebastien a 1.5-second edge going into the second heat—the maximum allowed in dual slalom.
Manietta made short work of his Pembertonian opponent in their next bout, yet was unable to claw back enough time. That dropped him into the small final against Sebastien's brother, Xavier.
The younger Harrisson did well to pip Manietta at the line once, but a tenacious Manietta pedaled furiously in their rematch to clinch his bronze medal in emphatic fashion.
Other champions from a big day of slalom include Cohen Bundy (U17 male), Emma Logan (open female), Finn Smith (open male), Amanda Timm (adaptive female) and Gustavo Ortiz (adaptive male).
"I was a little surprised to get first in seeding, but after that I was pretty confident," said Bundy. "A lot of pressure [to ride in Whistler] for sure, but it's really fun."
Full results are available here.
