Krasnaya Polyana, Russia (SportsNetwork.com) - Led by Jean Frederic Chapuis' gold medal, the French swept the men's ski cross podium on Thursday at the Sochi Olympics.
A fall by Canada's Brady Leman on the final turn confirmed the French sweep, leaving just the order to be decided. Chapuis, the 2013 FIS World Champion, held firm for his first Olympic medal, followed by Arnaud Bovolenta for silver and Jonathan Midol for the bronze.
Leman, meanwhile, was trailing the pack before his wipe out left him in fourth place.
Canada was held without a medal despite owning three of the top six seeds going into the 1/8 final. Canadians Christopher Del Bosco and David Duncan failed to advance out of their four-skier runs in the first race, while Leman placed first in his 1/8, quarter and semifinal runs before his fall in the big final.
Russia's Egor Korotkov won the small final to finish fifth.
The lone American in the event, 30-year-old John Teller, also did not make it out of the 1/8 final, while 2010 silver medal-winner Andreas Matt of Austria was eliminated in the quarterfinals.
Swiss Michael Schmid, who won the first ever gold medal in this event when it debuted four years ago in Vancouver, was unable to ski in the event after suffering a left knee injury while training on Saturday.
Sweden's Victor Oehling Norberg had the best time in the individual seeding runs, but was on the wrong end of a close finish in the quarterfinals. He was leading in his race when he fell on the final kicker, causing Korotkov and Finn Jouni Pellinen to also tumble.
Switzerland's Armin Niederer crossed the finish line upright, while the other three tumbled across for a photo finish, with Korotkov's body coming across first.
Both Leman and Duncan finally hit Olympic snow after a disappointing turn of events four years ago. Duncan broke his collarbone while training at the Games and had to withdraw from the event, replaced by Leman.
However, the first alternate crashed during his training run and was unable to compete. Leman aggravated a broken tibia suffered in March of 2009, bending the road that had been implanted in his leg.
Del Bosco, meanwhile, finished fourth in Vancouver after his gamble for a silver medal failed. During the final and sitting in third, he made a push on the final jump and ended up falling, knocking himself out of a medal.