Polish skiers shone at the men's snowboard cross preliminaries on Friday not only for their lightening speed that booked three berths to the finals, but their passion touched every spectator at the Harbin Winter Universiade.
To a punk rock background beat, the helmeted riders raced one by one down the twists and turns of a 831-meter obstacle-strewn course. After a two-round knock-out heats, the fastest sixteen racers advanced to the finals to be held on Saturday.
Mateusz Ligocki, the World Cup winner in Italy in 2008, blitzed down the winding slope in a fastest 58.13 seconds among all the thirty-one racers to top the standings.
Though getting bumped on some jumps, the Polish national champion survived the tangled heaps with balanced body control and brilliant aerial tricks, barging into the finishing door with a bang to cheer the crowds.
Several minutes later, the winner's teammates Marcin Bocian and Jan Poninski both surged to cross the line after a series of acrobatic jumps, clocking in one minute 0.13 second and 1:01.19 respectively, which only ranked sixth and tenth, but were good enough to pace them to the finals.
The Polish trio hugged and teased each other for fun after the race, posing antics to amuse the photographers and audiences.
"We are really a good team. Only when you are on the board, you can feel the excitement and fun from it. Sometimes, it's the same in motor racing as furious falls and crashes between racers are commonplace, you've got to do it as quickly as you can and as carefully also," said Jan, who was raised by his teammate over head for cheering.
David Bakes of Czech and Swiss Clemens Bolli finished second and third in 58.63 and 59.26 seconds. In Saturday's finals, the sixteen riders will career four at a time down the rolling terrain in a series of knock-out heats. The fastest two racers from each heat move on to the next round.
On women's side, Klara Koukalova of Czech raced to victory in one minute 03.53 seconds among all the twenty-four competitors. Claire Chapotot of France and Italy's Raffaella Brutto finished second and third respectively in 1:04.52 and 1:05.00. The fastest sixteen racers qualified for Saturday's finals.
(Xinhua New Agency February 20, 2009)