Seeking 2nd ski cross world title, Canada's Marielle Thompson tops qualifying

Marielle Thompson of Whistler, B.C., finished first in women's ski cross qualifying Friday at the world freestyle skiing championships.

Thompson led the way in a time of one minute 25.52 seconds, followed by Sweden's Sandra Naeslund (1:25.76) and Germany's Daniela Maier (1:26.60).

Thompson, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist will ski against three Austrians — Sonja Gigler, Katrin Ofner and Andrea Limbacher — in Saturday's quarterfinals as she seeks her second world title. She won gold at the 2019 worlds at Deer Valley, Utah.

Coverage of the event will be available at 4 p.m. ET on CBC TV, CBCSports.ca, the CBC Sports app and CBC Gem.

Thompson, who has five medals in nine World Cup events this season, is a two-time Olympic medallist who scored gold at Sochi 2014. After a 17th-place finish at the 2018 Olympics, Thompson nearly missed out on 2022 entirely when she suffered a knee injury less than a year before the Games.

However, the Canadian rebounded to score silver in Beijing.

Courtney Hoffos of Windemere, B.C., (17th), Tiana Gairns of Prince George, B.C., (18th) and Ottawa's Hannah Schmidt (19th) failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

In men's qualifying, Ottawa's Jared Schmidt was third in 1:20.44, behind Japan's Satoshi Furuno (1:20.31) and Sweden's David Mobaerg (1:20.39).

Schmidt moved on to the eighth finals along with Canadians Reece Howden of Chilliwack, B.C., (17th), Toronto's Kevin Drury (29th) and Calgary's Brady Leman (31st).

Chris Del Bosco, a veteran of the Canadian team who now represents the United States, was 20th in qualifying.