In honour of her contribution to winter sport and in respect to her pioneering attitude, WinSport Canada will establish the Sarah Burke Performance Award, which will be given to any Canadian athlete that reaches the podium in any senior World Cup event that is held at WinSport Canada’s facilities at Canada Olympic Park. The award will be presented in the amount of $5,000 Cdn.

The award will be retroactive to the beginning of the 2011-12 winter season, making Calgary luger Alex Gough, who captured the gold medal on Dec. 16 at the International Luge Association’s World Cup event in Calgary, the first winner of the Sarah Burke award.

“It’s a great award to have and a great way to commemorate someone who did a lot for sport in Canada,” said Gough, who was reached by phone early Wednesday in Germany where the Canadian luge team is training. “It feels great (to win the award). I think it affected everyone in the sport community when she passed away. I think it’s a great way to commemorate her memory and what she did for sport and women in sport.”

Calgary snowboarder Jed Anderson needs help in his bid to win $50,000 US.

Anderson is among eight urban snowboarders vying for X Games gold and the grand prize in the second annual Winter X Games Real Snow contest. Each submitted a 60-second video featuring some of their most outrageous tricks on public rails, buildings or whatever.

In addition to being judged to determine gold, silver and bronze – based on technicality, style and ‘gnar factor’ – the fans determine the cash winner in a fan favourite contest.

The eight riders, including Anderson, are placed in two-rider brackets, with the first four eliminations on Jan. 17 and the final two determined on Jan. 24. The winner of the fan favourite portion will be announced Jan. 28 during a live telecast of the X Games. The medal winners, from the judged portion of the competition, will also be announced on Jan. 28.

To cast your vote, go to http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/realsnow/2012/realsnow

“It feels pretty crazy to be picked to participate in a contest like this,” Anderson told XGames.com. “It’s an awesome opportunity and I’m just grateful that I am a part of it.”

Anderson is up against Pat Moore of Campton, N.H., in the first round. As of early Monday morning, Anderson was receiving 38 per cent of the more than 14,000 votes.

Calgary  bobsleigh pilot Kallie Humphries joined forces with brakeman Emily Baadsvik on Friday to capture a silver medal at a World Cup  race in Konigssee, Germany.

Humphries and Baadsvik, of St. Stephen, N.B., had a two-run time of one minute 44.10 seconds, which was just behind the gold-medal time of 1:43.56 clocked by Germany’s Cathleen Martini and Berit Wiacker. Switerland’s Fabienne Meyer and Hanne Scheak took bronze in 1:44.10.

“It felt good today. Training went well all week and I like this track a lot, so I was happy to be back and get on the podium,” said Humphries, who trains at WinSport Canada’s track at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park. “I like the way it feels and the feeling I get in my hands. I think I’ve figured out how to drive here and it just seems to work for me.”

The race came a week after the Canadian team pulled out a World Cup race in Altenberg after a crash in training involving Canadian pilot Chris Spring and his four-man crew.

“We were definitely motivated and happy to be racing again after an emotional week, and just wanted to be strong for the boys on Team Spring,” said Humphries. “I think we proved Canada can be down and out one week, but bounce back and be on top the next, and that is something we should be proud of as a whole team.”

The men’s skeleton and two-man bobsleigh are slated for Saturday.

Canada’s Mellisa Hollingsworth relinquished top spot in the skeleton World Cup standings, after capturing a bronze medal Friday in Koenigssee, Germany.

The native of Eckville, Alta., who trains at WinSport Canada’s sliding facility at Canada Olympic Park, clocked a two-run time of one minute 47.27. Shelley Rudman of Britain grabbed the gold in 1:46.65, while Marion Thees of Germany took silver in 1:47.19.

With the silver, Thees moved nine points up on Hollingsworth in overall standings, with 938 points.

“It was OK today, but I didn’t slide very well,” said Hollingsworth. “You always have to be happy with a podium, but I’m disappointed because I know I can slide better. Being competitive, I think that is the itch we have inside of us is that we are perfectionists, but it is great to be on the podium for sure.”

The bronze gave the 31-year-old Hollingsworth a total of 30 medals for her 17-year career.

Amy Gough, of Abbotsford, B.C., was 11th in 1:48.74, with Calgary’s Sarah Reid finishing 17th (1:49.44).

Speed Skating Canada will be sending a mix of veterans and young skaters to the world sprint championships later this month in Calgary.

The team, which was announced Thursday, will be led by veteran national team members and Olympians Christine Nesbitt of London, Ont., and Denny Morrison of Fort St. John, B.C., as they battle the world at the Olympic Oval in Calgary on Jan. 28-29.

Nesbitt, a four-time women’s champion (500-metre, 1,000, 1,500 and 3,000), captured gold in the 1,000-metre event at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and was a member silver-medal winning pursuit team at the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy.

Morrison has two Olympic pursuit medals, including a gold from 2010 and silver from 2006.

Edmonton’s Jamie Gregg, who was eighth in the 500-metre event in Vancouver, and Montreal’s Muncef Ouardi, who made his World Cup debut during the 2007-08 season, round out the men’s representatives.

Joining Nesbitt on the women’s side is Calgary’s Anastasia Bucsis, another 2010 Olympian, and development team member Kaylin Irvine.

Tickets for the world sprint championships are available at www.speedsk8.ca.

The Olympic Oval is partially funded by WinSport Canada as part of the continuing legacy of the 1988 Games. For more on WinSport Canada, visit www.winsportcanada.ca.

Chris Del Bosco and Marielle Thompson hit the medal podium Wednesday in a World Cup ski cross race in Alpe D’Huez, France, with both Canadians earning silver medals.

Del Bosco, the reigning world champion, reached the podium for the first time this season.

“It’s nice to get that first (podium) out of the way. I’m happy. It’s awesome,” said Del Bosco, a Montreal native whose best finish this season prior to Wednesday was a seventh-place effort. “In the final I was waiting for an opportunity and I managed to get by near the end. I set it up leading into the final jump.”

Dave Duncan, of London, Ont., was fourth, Toronto’s Nik Zoricic was seventh, while Calgary’s Brady Leman was eliminated in his quarter-final to finish ninth and Whistler’s Davey Barr was placed 16th. Tristan Tafel, of Canmore, Alta., finished 20th, while Brian Bennett, of Quesnel, B.C., was 25^th, and Stan Rey, of Whistler, B.C., was 28^th.

In the women’s event, Thompson earned her second career World Cup podium, with Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna taking fourth after going out in the final with an apparent knee injury.

“I don’t think you can get used to it, but it feels pretty good,” Thompson said of her medal. “What’s made the difference is just my confidence in myself. The training has definitely helped a lot – there’s been a big improvement in my skiing.”

The Canadian ski cross team now heads to Les Contamines, France. Qualification is Saturday, with finals slated for Sunday.

The team members at WinSport Canada want to wish Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke all the best in her recovery, after she suffered a serious head injury on Tuesday in Park City, Utah.

The 29-year-old from Squamish, B.C, who competes in freestyle halfpipe event, is reportedly in a coma at a Salt Lake City hospital after she was injured in a training run.

“We’re a bit shell-shocked right now,” Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, told the Toronto Star. “It’s tough to read. The signs are dramatic and catastrophic, but it’s hard to gauge how dramatic and catastrophic. The same treatment and symptoms can be on a broad scale.”

Burke, who was training for the 2012 X Games, is considered a gold-medal threat at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

“We know that she had landed a trick in the pipe and had landed at the bottom of the pipe and kind of hit on her feet, so she landed, and then bounced onto her feet, head kind of thing,” Judge told The Canadian Press. “Apparently from what we heard it didn’t look like it was that kind of severe a fall, but obviously she must have just hit in the right way.”

Alex Gough’s tremendous season continued Thursday on the World Cup luge circuit, capturing a bronze medal at a race in Konigsee, Germany.

The 24-year-old from Calgary has won three medals in four races this season.

“I’m very happy with the result, but I would have liked to have been closer to first and second,” said Gough, who trains at WinSport Canada’s track in Calgary. She also won at a World Cup stop on her home track last month and has another third-place finish to her credit this season.

“This was the first race of the season where I was trying to have a repeat performance from last year, rather than improving and I was able to accomplish that.”

Gough, a two-time Olympian, posted a two-run time of one minute 42.630 seconds.

Germany’s Tatjana Hufner took gold in 1:41.900, with teammate Natalie Geisenberger taking silver in 1:42.074.

Calgary’s Arianne Jones had a career-best seventh-place finish. Calgary’s Kim McRae was 13th and Dayna Clay was 19th.

In doubles, Tristan Walker of Cochrane, Alta., and Calgary’s Justin Snith finished eighth.

Men’s singles and a team relay are scheduled for Friday in Konigssee.