Brittany Phelan won her first-ever women’s ski cross World Cup gold medal on Sunday.
Competing on the World Cup circuit since 2016, the 32-year-old had placed on the podium 16 times prior, but finally was able to stand on top of it after the women’s big final in Reiteralm, Austria.
Phelan held off Marielle Berger Sabbatel of France for the victory after Swiss athletes Talina Gantenbein and Margaux Dumont crashed partway through the race, finishing in a tie for third in the four-athlete race.
A native of Mont-Tremblant, Que., Phelan capped a strong month of February, in which she also won silver medals in both Alleghe, Italy, on Feb. 3 and Bakuriani, Georgia, on Feb. 10.
WATCH | Phelan strikes gold in Austria:
Brittany Phelan of Mont-Tremblant, Que., took the podium for the fifth time this season by winning world cup gold in Reiteralm.
Marielle Thompson of Whistler, B.C., coming off of three straight World Cup gold, placed 13th after not finishing her quarterfinal heat, while India Sherret of Cranbrook, B.C., was ninth overall.
Thompson maintained her spot atop the World Cup standings with 832 points, now narrowly outpacing Berger Sabbatel’s 810 points in her quest to earn a top-three finish for the sixth straight season.
Phelan follows behind with 632 points and is looking for her first top-three finish since 2018, when she placed third.
A three-time Olympian, she won 2018 Olympic silver in Pyeongchang, South Korea and placed in the top five four years later in Beijing.
Phelan also competed at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia as an alpine skier, making the transition to ski cross shortly after, in part due to a calf injury.
In the men’s competition on Sunday, Reece Howden, of Cultus Lake, B.C., was Canada’s top finisher in 11th, but still held onto top spot in the standings with 566 points.
Alex Fiva of Switzerland was fourth and trails Howden in the standings by 18 points.
Youri Duplessis Kergomard of France, and Italians Simone Deromedis and Terence Tchiknavorian earned gold, silver and bronze, respectively, on Sunday.