Racing a tough terrain: Maelle Ricker, snowboard cross racer

The Georgia Straight first profiled snowboarder Maëlle Ricker in 1996 as the North Vancouver native prepared for one of the first World Cup halfpipe contests held at Whistler. Today, the 31-year-old World Cup snowboard cross champion and double Winter X Games winner half-jokingly refers to herself as “the old lady of boardercross”. This time around, the Straight caught up with Ricker via Skype as she journeyed in Europe for preseason training with the Swiss team. Despite this being an Olympic year, it’s clearly still one tight family on the ’cross front.

As per team rider Drew Neilson’s decision, Ricker now rides a Swiss-made Oxess snowboard in the sport in which competitors race over rolling terrain, jumps, and ramps. “It’s an extremely high-performance machine,” she explained, “a hybrid of a freestyle and a racing board. You still have the agility of freestyle with the stability of a sidecut.” She credits her technician, J. P. Trottier, with pushing her to be open-minded about trying a new board. “I was set on riding a freestyle board in the Olympics. Instead, I now feel like I’m able to make the jump to the new technology.” With three World Cup victories in five starts this season, the big leap has clearly paid off. As a former halfpipe rider, Ricker knows all about getting big air. “I stopped progressing in the halfpipe several years ago. Snowboard cross was where I wanted to put my energy.”

On the topic of stability, Ricker said that after years of struggling to find and retain sponsors, her sport’s $2 million in support from Vanoc’s Own the Podium initiative has made a big difference. “I feel lucky to be a winter athlete. We’re well looked after, with funding for travel, technology, support staff, and coaching.” The cost of a high-performance snowboard alone is $1,500, and each rider travels with a quiver of three or four boards. Why? “There are so many different styles of snowboard-cross courses these days. It depends on which mountain we’re racing on.”

During her 16-year career, Ricker has starred in both snowboard halfpipe’s debut at the 1998 Nagano Olympics and snowboard cross’s launch at the 2006 Games in Turin. On Tuesday (February 16), Vancouver offers the world’s current number-one-ranked female snowboard cross racer a third try at the rings.

“I love extreme sports and going to the X Games,” she said, “but the Olympics are more important on a personal level. When the big day comes, I’ll be ready.”