By Mari Saito and Winni Zhou
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – First-time Olympian Ryan Regez of Switzerland took gold in the men’s ski cross final on Friday at the Beijing Games, while fellow Swiss skier Alex Fiva claimed silver.
Regez dominated from the start, leading the pack to zoom over the technical section at the start of the course, putting plenty of distance between himself and the rest of the pack.
Sergey Ridzik of the Russian Olympic Committee, who won the bronze medal at the Pyeongchang Games four years ago, had to again settle for third place on Friday.
Heavy snow overnight complicated the event at the Genting Snow Park, with skiers flying over fresh powder on a course that is more than 1,200 metres long and features big jumps, rollers and high-banked turns.
The air temperature fell to -15.8 degree Celsius (3.6°F) ahead of the final.
(Reporting by Winni Zhou and Mari Saito; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Ken Ferris)
