Baumgartner boosts his Olympic SBX bid

Baumgartner boosts his Olympic SBX bid

IRON RIVER—Iron River’s Nick Baumgartner is making a strong case for his second selection to the U.S. Winter Olympics snowboardcross team. After a pair of World Cup races held over the weekend in Andorra, his bid is looking pretty good.

Baumgartner is now ranked seventh overall in World Cup SBX standings and second among Americans after competing in two World Cup races in Vallnord-Arcalis, Andorra, on Jan. 10 and 11.

He reached the “big final” on Jan. 10 and finished sixth overall. On Jan. 11, he advanced to the “small final” and finished in second place in that race, eighth overall.

The points earned in the two Andorran events put Baumgartner seventh place in the men’s World Cup standings with 1,137.60 points, according to new standings on the FIS website (www.fis-ski.com).

Baumgartner is the second highest American in the point totals. Trevor Jacob won one of the Andorran races and now leads the Americans (fourth overall with 1,296 points). After Baumgartner are Alex Diebold (13th, 894.90) and Nate Holland (15th, 879.40).

From Andorra, Baumgartner had planned to travel to Veysonnaz, Switzerland, for World Cup races scheduled Jan. 18-19. However, the Swiss races were canceled due to lack of snow.

The U.S. Olympic Committee will announce its team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, following the X-Games in Aspen, Colo., on Jan. 23-26.

“Nick’s event, snowboardcross (SBX), is generally run on Saturday, Jan. 25, live on ESPN,” said his mother, Mary Baumgartner. “He gets to come home then and hopefully pack for Sochi.”

ESPN will be airing the men’s and women’s Border X final for the X-Games on Friday, Jan. 24, from 12:30 to 4 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. CT) and on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 2 to 4 p.m. (1-3 p.m. CT). ABC will also air Saturday’s final from 4 to 6 p.m. All three races are medal events.

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