Canada's Serwa leads skicross seeding

Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Canada's Kelsey Serwa had the top seeding run Friday in women's skicross.

All 28 riders moved on to the 1/8 final in the last freestyle skiing event at the Sochi Olympics. The 1/8 final is followed Friday by the quarterfinals, semifinals and the small and big finals.

Serwa, who was fifth at the Vancouver Olympics, posted a time of 1 minute, 21.45 seconds to beat 37-year-old Ophelie David of France by .01 seconds.

Serwa skied after there was a short fog delay at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park.

Her teammates Marielle Thompson and Georgia Simmerling gave Canada three skiers in the top eight after seeding runs. Thomson, who had the third-fastest run, was second at the most recent world championships.

The United States does not have a skier in the field.

Last Saturday, Russian Maria Komissarova fractured her spine during a training run for the event. Two skiers crashed and did not finish their seeding runs on Friday, but both Nikol Kucerova of the Czech Republic and Stephanie Joffroy of Chile still moved on.

The only Olympic medalist in the field, Marion Josserand of France, finished 22nd in seeding. Canada's Ashleigh McIvor won gold in the sport's Olympic debut in 2010, but has since retired.

Reigning world champion Fanny Smith of Switzerland had the 16th-fastest seeding run. Australia's Sami Kennedy-Sim, who suffered a stroke last April and returned to competition only months later, was 25th.

Led by Jean Frederic Chapuis' gold medal, the French swept the men's ski cross podium on Thursday at the Sochi Olympics.