Maëlle Ricker

Maëlle Ricker
Full name	Maëlle Danica Ricker
nation	Canada
birthday	2nd December 1978 (age 41)
place of birth	North Vancouver ,  Canada
size	169 cm
Weight	63 kg
job	Snowboard instructor
Career
discipline	Snowboard cross halfpipe
society	Whistler Blackcomb Pro Team
status	resigned
End of career	November 2015
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 2 × 0 × 1 × X-Games 2 × 0 × 2 ×
winter Olympics gold Vancouver 2010 Snowboard cross  Snowboard world championships gold Val di Sole 1999 Snowboard cross  Snowboard world championships gold 2013 Stoneham Snowboard cross bronze 2005 Whistler Mountain Snowboard cross Winter X Games gold 1999 Snowboard cross gold 2006 Snowboard cross bronze 2007 Snowboard cross bronze 2012 Snowboard cross
Placements
World cup
Debut in the World Cup December 14, 1996  World Cup victories 9  Overall World Cup 1. ( 09/10 )  Snowboard cross world cup 1. ( 2007/08 , 2009/10 )  Halfpipe World Cup 3. ( 1996/97 )
Podium placements 1. 2. 3.  Snowboard cross 7th 5 4th  halfpipe 2 2 3
last change: February 28, 2018

Maëlle Danica Ricker [ mɑːˈɛl ˈdænɪkə ˈɹɪkə ] (born December 2, 1978 in North Vancouver ) is a former Canadian snowboarder and Olympic champion. She started in the disciplines snowboard cross and halfpipe .

Maëlle Ricker also practiced other sports before switching to professional snowboarding. She was active in cross-country skiing and alpine skiing , and also played football and field hockey . It was only her brother Jorli who introduced her to snowboarding. She started her first competitions at the age of six. She has contested almost one hundred races in the World Cup (as of the end of 2008), competed twice in the Olympic Games and is a two-time medalist at world championships. In the course of her career, she suffered several serious knee injuries, but repeatedly fought her way back into the world's elite. Her mother is a biology teacher, the father a geologist. Ricker himself is a snowboard instructor and lives in Whistler , British Columbia .

World cup

Maëlle Ricker has an outstanding record in the World Cup. She made it onto the podium in more than a quarter of her starts and finished in the top ten in more than half of all starts. With nine wins and seven second and seven third places, she is one of the most successful snowboarders in the World Cup.

Before 2002

In the beginning, Ricker competed more in halfpipe competitions in the World Cup , but this shifted over time to snowboard cross. When she made her debut in December 1996 in Whistler Mountain, she finished second on the podium and this season was always in the top ten except for two races, and was third on the podium twice. This brought her thirteenth place in the overall World Cup, tenth place in the snowboard cross discipline and third place in the halfpipe discipline behind Tara Teigen and Sabrina Sadeghi . It remained her best result in the Halfpipe Discipline World Cup. Although the next season was less successful with only a third place - usually between ten and twenty - finishing fifth at the Olympics was her greatest success until then. In the 1998/1999 season she contested only five races due to injury, including her first victory at the boardercross in Whistler Mountain , and only two in the following season 1999/2000 , also in her home town of Whistler: both on the same weekend and both of them won once in the cross and for the first time in the halfpipe. In the following season she entered late, with another victory in boardercross in Kronplatz and eight top ten places, she was thirteenth and fourteenth in the World Cup disciplines cross and halfpipe. Although she made it into the top ten five times in six World Cup starts in the 2002 season, this year marked a major setback in her career. A knee injury prevented her from qualifying for the Winter Olympics.

2002 to 2007

Also in 2003 was marked by injuries, despite a victory at the season opener in Valle Nevado . She only appeared in four races - three World Cups and the World Championship - as in the previous season exclusively in half-pipe competitions. Nine World Cup starts in the next 2004 season brought only two top ten results and meant a disappointing season for Maëlle Ricker. She did not fare much better in the 2005 season , but the World Cup bronze medal improved the weak World Cup record with a third and a ninth place in nine starts. She started the 2005/2006 season with two second places in Valle Nevado, and she achieved another podium with third place in Bad Gastein . A total of seven places among the ten best and fourth place at the Olympics meant a clear upswing, which manifested itself in excellent placements in the overall World Cup. In addition to fifth place in the overall ranking, she only had to admit defeat to her teammate Dominique Maltais in the snowboard cross discipline world cup ; this second place was her best overall ranking up to then. Despite an injury that caused a late start to the season, Ricker remained on the road to success in 2007 . After nearly five years a World Cup victory in her successful re- Japanese Furano and also in the discipline of the World Cup snowboard cross Evaluation she left with third place with only seven races a strong impression, also was Eighteenth overall.

2008 to 2009

With the start of the Snowboard World Cup in 2007/2008 , Ricker finally switched to snowboard cross and was able to celebrate the best World Cup season of her career, which culminated in winning the discipline World Cup in snowboard cross. In the overall World Cup, she was able to repeat fifth place from the 2006 season. Decisive for her triumph over Lindsey Jacobellis and Mellie Francon were, in addition to three wins in Valle Nevado, Sungwoo and Gujō, their constant top positions with only one failure in only nine starts. Three second places and a fifth place contrasted with eleventh place in Valmalenco as the worst result. The 2008/2009 season began for Ricker in September with third place in the race in Chapelco ( Argentina ) and continued with 8th place in Arosa, 3rd place in Stoneham , 1st place in Sunday River and 1st place in Valmalenco . The 2008/09 World Cup season ended with 2nd place in the snowboard cross discipline and 4th place in the overall World Cup.

In November 2015, the 36-year-old declared her active time over.

Continental Cup, Europa Cup, Nor-Am Cup and South American Cup

In addition to the World Cup races, Ricker also competed in the Continental Cups. In 1997 she had won in Big White at sporadic starts and after two races in 1999 she only returned to races in these series with moderate success in 2004. Occasional starts in 2005 and 2006 resulted in another win for Big White. Her series has been unprecedented since January 2007. In all eight starts since then she was either first or second, five first and three second places show her dominance.

World championships

Shortly before the end of her first World Cup season, Ricker took part in the FIS World Championships in Innichen in January 1997 . She placed fourth in snowboard cross and finished eleventh, her stronger discipline of halfpipe. At the last of the ISF World Championships in 1999, Ricker won the snowboard cross competition, beating Catherine Plötzl and Brigitte Köck . 2001 in Madonna di Campiglio she competed again at the FIS World Championships, but did not have the hoped-for success with the eighth or 34th in cross and halfpipe. In 2003 in Kreischberg she decided not to do boardercross and finished seventh again in the top ten. Ricker won her second medal at World Championships ( FIS ) in 2005 in Whistler Mountain in boardercross, she was third on the podium next to Lindsey Jacobellis (gold) and Karine Ruby (silver). This success is all the more astonishing given that it was her first race after knee surgery. In Arosa 2007 she managed to jump to the top again, with fifth place she just missed a medal in snowboard cross, while she did not compete in the halfpipe. At the Snowboard World Championship 2009 Ricker was again at the start in snowboard cross and qualified for the final in Hoengseong. The podium was made by the new world champion Helene Olafsen and the two Swiss women Olivia Nobs and Mellie Francon, while Ricker was only fourth. Overall, she was able to place in the top ten seven times at world championships.

Olympic games

In an interview, Ricker said: “ I've been wanting to win one since I've been a little girl, even before I snowboarded. To win an Olympic medal would be priceless. (I've wanted to win an [Olympic medal] since I was a little girl, even before I snowboarded. Winning an Olympic medal would be priceless.) "

In 1998 she qualified for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano in the halfpipe . She took fifth place in this competition, which surprisingly won the German Nicola Thost .

In the preparation time for the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City , Ricker injured his knee and was therefore unable to take part in the elimination races. Regarding this setback, she said: “ I'm pretty stubborn. It's a Ricker family trait (I'm pretty stubborn. It runs in the family), ”and“ I've wanted to be an Olympic medallist since I was pretty young. (When I was very young, I wanted to be an Olympic medalist.) "

She barely missed the implementation in 2006. At the Olympic Winter Games in Turin , she was able to advance to the final of snowboard cross, but fell shortly after the start of the race, broke through the safety fence and was then passed out. She suffered a concussion and back injuries. She finished fourth behind Tanja Frieden , Lindsey Jacobellis and her compatriot Dominique Maltais .

Ricker was finally able to fulfill her dream of winning an Olympic gold medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in her home city of Vancouver on her "house slope". Although Ricker was the leader in the World Cup, Lindsey Jacobellis had been considered a big favorite before the games, but she missed a goal in the semifinals and was fifth. Ricker, however, improved in the course of the competition. In adverse conditions with fog and a sodden slope, she survived qualification after a fall in the first run due to a good second run in third place. Then she won her quarter-finals and defeated Jacobellis and the two French women Déborah Anthonioz and Nelly Moenne-Loccoz in the semi-finals .
In the final, she quickly gained a lead and prevailed against Anthonioz, Olivia Nobs and the fourth-placed world champion Helene Olafsen after a fall. She is the first Canadian who managed to win the Olympic Games in her own country; two days earlier, Alexandre Bilodeau was the first Canadian ever to achieve this in freestyle .

Two weeks before the 2014 Winter Olympics , she broke her arm. She started anyway and finished 21st in snowboard cross on February 16 in Sochi behind the Czech winner Eva Samková .

Sporting successes

winter Olympics

date	place	country	discipline	placement
Feb 12, 1998	Nagano	JPN	halfpipe	5.
Feb 17, 2006	Turin	ITA	Snowboard cross	4th
Feb 16, 2010	Vancouver	CAN	Snowboard cross	1.
Feb 16, 2014	Sochi	RUS	Snowboard cross	21st

FIS Snowboard World Cup

date	place	country	discipline	placement
December 13, 1998	Whistler, BC	Canada	Snowboard cross	1.
December 11, 1999	Whistler, BC	Canada	Snowboard cross	1.
December 12, 1999	Whistler, BC	Canada	halfpipe	1.
January 19, 2001	Kronplatz	Italy	Snowboard cross	1.
September 13, 2002	Valle Nevado	Chile	halfpipe	1.
February 17, 2007	Furano	Japan	Snowboard cross	1.
September 29, 2007	Valle Nevado	Chile	Snowboard cross	1.
February 15, 2008	Sungwoo	South Korea	Snowboard cross	1.
February 22, 2008	Gujo-Gifu	Japan	Snowboard cross	1.

• 1st place Snowboard Cross World Cup 2008
• 2nd place Snowboard Cross World Cup 2006
• 3rd place Snowboard Cross World Cup 2007
• 3rd place Halfpipe World Cup 1997
• 5th place overall World Cup 2006 and 2008

World championships

• 1999 - World Champion in Snowboard Cross (ISF)
• 2005 - 3rd of the World Championships in Snowboard Cross (FIS)

National

• 3 × Canadian champion

Web links

Commons : Maëlle Ricker  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Maëlle Ricker in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Maëlle Ricker in The Canadian Encyclopedia (English / French)
• Maëlle Ricker Portrait at expn.go.com (English)
• Maëlle Ricker in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Canadian Press: Maelle Ricker - Snowboarding ( English ) CTV globemedia. 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
2. ↑ Maelle Ricker announces end to historic snowboard caree (November 4, 2015)
3. ↑ World Cup dream start for Swiss SBX women . St.Galler Tagblatt. January 19, 2009. Retrieved January 19, 2009.
4. ↑ Show contribution helps Swiss woman to get gold . NZ Netzeitung GmbH. February 17, 2006. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
5. ↑ Maelle Ricker released from hospital . news.ch (VADIAN.NET AG). February 18, 2006. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
6. ↑ 10 Questions: Maelle Ricker ( English ) Transworld Snowboarding. September 11, 2006. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
7. ↑ Snowboard cross: Ricker hands Canada second gold ( English ) The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. February 16, 2010. Retrieved February 17, 2010.
8. ↑ Maelle Ricker still plans to compete in Sochi despite surgery for broken arm. The Huffington Post . January 31, 2014, accessed March 1, 2018.