March 6, 2005 WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN, Wilmington, NY. Xavier Delerue is back.
Having suffered a broken collarbone injury in early December, the three time FIS World Cup Boardercross champion is back on top of his game with a vengeance. In the past month, purely through his riding skill and understated demeanor, Xavier has served notice that he is right back where he started from: Firmly in command of his game and focused on winning the overall 2005 FIS World Cup Boardercross title. For naysayers who thought an early season injury would end Delerue’s competitive year, consider the following results since his return in late January, 2005:

1st race X-GAMES BOARDERCROSS 1st
2nd race X-GAMES ULTRACROSS 2nd
3rd race Gravity Games Boardercross 1st
4th race Lake Placid FIS World Cup BX 1st

Commenting on his health and gold medal performance at the FIS World Cup Boardercross event today at Whiteface Mountain, Delerue stated, “The shoulder is fine and I feel great. It was so cool that Paul-Henri |( Xavier’s younger brother who was second ) was right next to me on the podium today!”

Following Sunday morning’s qualifying runs, in which he posted the fastest overall time, Xavier had high marks for the challenging boardercross course prepared by the mountain staff at Whiteface. “This is a really great boardercross race course. Whiteface has created a course that challenges riders to really ride the mountain. It’s a true test of rider skill.”

For Delerue, getting back on tour has been a whirlwind experience. Having won boardercross races at the X-GAMES, the Gravity Games and the only FIS World Cup event in the USA, he drove from Lake Placid, New York to Montreal, Quebec for an overnight flight to Geneva, Switzerland. Commenting on the fast pace of the FIS World Cup tour, Xavier stated “I won’t even have time to spend a night in my own bed before flying directly to Spain for the next World Cup event! Immediately after Spain, it’s off to Sweden for the final event of the season at Tandadalen. My goal is to focus on each of the upcoming races and give it my best shot.”

With his win in Lake Placid, Xavier moved into second place overall in the 2005 FIS World Cup Boardercross points standings. Prior to being sidelined with his shoulder injury Xavier posted a second place finish in the first FIS Boardercross World Cup of the season at Valle Nevado, Chile in September, 2004. While he recuperated, the tour continued with riders earning points in the overall standings at Saas-Fee, Switzerland and Nasfeld-Hermagor, Austria. To retain second overall in the World Cup standings, notch wins in Aspen at the X-GAMES and Copper Mountain at the Gravity Games is inspiring. The final World Cup boardercross events will take place over the next two consecutive weekends. March 11th and 12th, racing action resumes at the Sierra Nevada resort in Spain. Five days later, the final FIS World Cup Boardercross race of the season will take place in Tandadalen, Sweden. The World Cup boardercross event in Scandinavia is scheduled to take place March 17th.

This season marks the first appearance of an AUTODRIVE design for Xavier’s pro model snowboard. The new CONCEPT AUTODRIVE by XDLR is receiving rave reviews from the World Cup riders who are using the new 2006 board. DYNASTAR pro riders currently using Xavier’s new pro model include French team riders Xavier and Paul-Henri Delerue and American rider, Seth Wescott. Women boardercross riders Deborah Anthonioz (France) and Marni Yamada (USA) are using AUTODRIVE CONCEPT snowboards from the current 2005 season.
In addition to DYNASTAR snowboards, both Xavier and Paul-Henri are using DYNASTAR CONNECT SERIE bindings and DYNASTAR SERAC snowboard boots.