Two Canadians among athletes to watch at Para snowboard world championships

OTTAWA – Alex Massie and Sandrine Hamel of Canada are both considered medal contenders at the World Para Snowboard Championships which will hit the slopes this Wednesday and Saturday in Pyha, Finland.

Massie, with two top-10 finishes last year at the Paralympic Winter Games, has enjoyed a breakthrough season on the World Cup. Hamel, in her second season on the national team, showed big improvements this winter on the circuit as she collected her first international medals.

The Canadians are among several top athletes who could post strong results at the worlds. Here are five snowboarders to watch: 

Alex Massie (Canada)
The 24-year-old from Barrie, Ont., is currently first in the World Cup standings in the lower limb 2 (SB-LL2) class. Massie has won nine medals on the circuit including three victories and four second-place finishes. Seven of those medals have come in the snowboard cross events along with two bronze in the banked slalom.

Sandrine Hamel (Canada)
The 21-year-old from St-Sauveur, Que., had two top-fives at last year’s Paralympic Winter Games as a NextGen athlete. She’s since earned three silver medals on the circuit in the SB-LL2 class: two in banked slalom and one in snowboard cross. She has placed in the top-five in nine of her 10 World Cup races this season.

Brenna Huckaby (USA)
One of the sport’s highest-profile athletes lived up to her hype in PyeongChang, and Huckaby remains the favourite in the women’s SB-LL1 category.

Chris Vos (Netherlands)
At only 21 years old, Vos owns four world championship gold medals, numerous World Cup crystal globe titles, and a Paralympic medal. 

Sun Qi (China)
The biggest surprise this season after sweeping banked slalom wins at the World Cup in Landgraaf, Netherlands, Sun will be a top challenger in Finland this week. 
Action kicks off Wednesday with the banked slalom and is scheduled to conclude with the snowboard cross on Saturday.