Canadians Throw Gauntlet After Shining In Trials

Ski-cross, the Olympics` newest event, is shaping up as a potential medal bonanza for Canada.

Any lingering doubts over the benefits of home snow for Canadian competitors at the 2010 Winter Olympics were removed on Friday when the hosts went on a medal rampage in a series of trials.

From Whistler to Vancouver, Canadians dominated the Winter Games test events, producing the type of performances they hope can be matched a year from now when Olympic medals will be on the line.

But, if nothing else, the results were a good omen for Canadians who have twice before hosted Olympic Games (1976 Montreal and 1988 Calgary) and never won a gold medal.

The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) has assured that embarrassing drought will end in Vancouver, having targeted top spot in the medals table as their objective.

Such lofty goals did not seem out of reach on Friday at Cypress Mountain where the Canadian men swept the podium and the women grabbed the top two spots in World Cup ski-cross events.

Later that evening, the Canadian Air Force lit up the night sky, Steve Omischl taking top spot on the podium in a freestyle skiing World Cup aerials competition.

There were also medals collected at the Whistler sliding centre where Kaillie Humphries piloted her two-man sled to second place in a women's World Cup event, while Olympic gold and silver medallist Pierre Lueders was third in the men's race.

SKATING FEATS

Canada's figure skaters also contributed to a big day, Joannie Rochette finishing second behind Korea's Kim Yu-na at the Four Continents championships.

Rochette's achievement was matched earlier in the competition by Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in the ice dancing discipline and Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison in the pairs.

Ski-cross, the Olympics' newest event, is shaping up as a potential medal bonanza for Canada.

The rough-and-tumble sport that sees four skiers simultaneously hurling themselves down a mountain, has attracted a wide variety of characters and Canada put two of them on top of the podium on Friday.

Chris Del Bosco, a one-time skiing bad boy who broke his neck and nearly froze to death in a ditch after a drunken binge, completed the climb to back to the top by claiming his first career World Cup win ahead of X-Games champion and team mate Stanley Hayer.

Aleisha Cline, a 38-year-old mother of two and self-described ski bum, collected a stunning victory in just her fifth World Cup race since ending a five-year retirement earlier this season.

"This was an awesome day for Canadians, we wanted to do well here," said Del Bosco, who also spent time in jail for drunk driving and was booted off the U.S. development team for smoking cannabis.

"We were planning on it all off-season, this was one of the ones we wanted to show everyone what we were made of and to be able to have it work out is just amazing.

"I've always been right there, I knew I just had to hang in there and it would come one day. It's just awesome that it came here at home.

"We just made it happen today.

"This just made it really clear that we are skiing really well and ready for next year."