Silver puts Mapp on brink of title

Corie Mapp moved one step closer to the Overall World Cup crown by winning silver in Saturday’s penultimate race of the season in La Plagne.

Mapp headed to France at the top of the standings and, after finishing in the medals for the fifth time in seven races, that is where he remains ahead of tomorrow’s final event at the same venue.

The 45-year-old double amputee clocking a combined time of 2 minutes 13.84 seconds to finish 0.07 seconds behind his nearest rival in the overall rankings, Robert Balk.

Balk closed the gap at the top of the leaderboard to 50 points but if Mapp finishes anywhere in the top six on Sunday the title will be his.

If American Balk fails to repeat today’s win tomorrow and instead finishes second or third, Mapp can afford to place seventh or ninth and still take his second title following his maiden triumph back in 2018.

Arturs Klots sits third in the standings but the Latvian is 76 points behind Mapp, with Swiss slider Christian Stewart 116 points adrift in fourth. If Klots was to take gold tomorrow, ninth would still seal the overall championship for Mapp.

Corie Mapp is targeting a first overall title since 2018

Mapp has already won European Championship gold and World Championship bronze this season and today’s silver takes his top tier medal tally to 50 as his remarkable career continues to go from strength to strength.

A former Lance Corporal in the British Army, Mapp has three World Cup silvers, a gold and a bronze to his name this term after making the podium in Lillehammer and Sigulda twice apiece and now in La Plagne. He won overall silver last season and overall bronze the year before.

The final race of the year begins at 1.30pm GMT tomorrow.