Cultus Lake (with files from Alpine Canada/CBC) – Reece Howden and Brady Leman sat down beside each other in the Craigleith Ski Club’s south lodge on Friday to peel off their gear after the penultimate race of the World Cup season.
The Canadian ski cross teammates took a moment to lean back in their chairs and exhale.
Howden was riding high after a victory that gave him the Crystal Globe as overall season leader. Leman, the 2018 Olympic gold medallist, was soaking in the atmosphere at his final event before retirement.
Two champions with different emotions at a World Cup Finals neither will soon forget.
“I won in Canada and secured the Globe on home soil,” Howden said. “It means a lot. I was just looking for a good result and I didn’t want to leave it to the last second.”
Howden, from Cultus Lake, powered out of the gate and was in control for most of the four-man big final. He held off Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann for the victory and Youri Duplessis Kergomard of France took bronze.
The result gave Howden an insurmountable lead over Sweden’s David Mobaerg — who was 16th on Friday — in the overall points race. It was Howden’s third World Cup victory and seventh podium appearance of the season.
The final men’s and women’s races of the season begin back at Craigleith on Saturday at noon ET. Live coverage will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem. Watch a replay of the event on CBC-TV at 5 p.m. ET.
From Alpine Canada Alpin: With @reece_howden ‘s huge home soil win @craigleithskiclub … he has officially secured this season’s Ski Cross Crystal Globe (his SECOND of his career!)!! Who is stoked to see him raise it up tomorrow?! 
#BIGRIG
