It was another big step in the right direction for Kelsey Serwa as the Kelowna native just missed the podium at the second World Cup ski cross race of the season.
The 23-year-old Serwa, coming back from a serious knee injury suffered in a crash last January, took fourth place on Thursday at Telluride, Colorado.
Serwa and Canadian teammate Marielle Thompson were side by side in the same quarterfinal and went through in second and third, respectively.
In the semis, Serwa was again second as a lightning-fast Fanny Smith of Switzerland went through in first.
In the final, Serwa was slowest out of the gate in a stacked women’s final and she wasn’t able to close the gap as Smith finished first, French veteran Ophelie David was second and Sweden’s Anna Holmlund was third.
Still, it was a satisfying result for Serwa.
“I’m not focused on results right now. I’m just focused on building confidence,” Serwa said. “Today was a big step for me, just getting into the finals. I was stoked.
“I tried to make a pass on the last turn at the bottom and just kind of got pinched out a bit.”
In the men’s event, Kelowna’s Ian Deans was eliminated after crashing in the quarterfinal.
This weekend, the World Cup stops in Italy where Serwa won twice last December.
