Canadian ski cross racers earn podiums with silver, 2 bronze at Italy World Cup

Canadians littered the ski cross World Cup podium on Wednesday in Innichen, Italy.

Reece Howden and Brady Leman scored silver and bronze, respectively, while Marielle Thompson took bronze on the women's side.

The silver marks Howden's second straight after another second-place finish in Switzerland earlier in December. The Cultus Lake, B.C., native, who was eliminated in the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics, now owns 11 career World Cup podium appearances.

For Calgary's Leman, the 2018 Olympic champion, the bronze is his first hardware of the young World Cup season, in which there's only been four events to date. The 36-year-old also placed fourth at the 2014 Olympics and sixth at the 2022 Olympics. He had not finished better than 10th thus far in the 2022-23 campaign.

Canada's Kris Mahler was the lone finalist to not make the podium, while the only non-Canadian in the medal run, Switzerland's Mathias Graf, won gold.

WATCH | Howden, Leman reach ski cross podium in Italy:

Meanwhile, Thompson's bronze medal was the continuation of a strong season in which she's now landed on the podium in three of four World Cups. She previously earned a pair of silver medals.

Thompson, the Whistler, B.C., native who won Olympic gold in 2014 and silver in 2022, has now climbed 55 career World Cup podiums.

Sweden's Sandra Naeslund, the reigning Olympic champion, continued her unparalleled run of ski-cross dominance with another gold medal, her 12th straight at World Cups.

Switzerland's Fanny Smith scored silver.

The skiers return to the mountain in Innichen on Thursday at 6 a.m. ET for another World Cup competition. Live coverage will be available on CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.