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Solitude • David Duncan loitered around the finish line Friday afternoon surrounded by coaches, teammates and staff in that familiar Canadian black-and-red garb. They took turns congratulating the 34-year-old skicross athlete on his win. A friend waved a small Canadian flag in celebration. Duncan smiled, leaned on his ski poles and answered more questions.

Duncan, a native of Golden, British Columbia, stared up at the final slope of the 2017 U.S. Grand Prix World Cup at Solitude Mountain Resort discussing quite the rarity: A World Cup event in North America. On top of that, it's his third win and seventh career podium.

"As athletes, we'd all love to have more over here," he said. "The North Americans, the Canadians and the U.S. guys, we'd love to showcase our sport closer to home. I think the U.S. and Canada is an incredible market for our sport."

North American skicross and snowboardcross athletes have trekked around Europe from December to March the last few years, jumping from one World Cup stop to the next, knowing that a World Cup stop on home soil wasn't in the cards. That finally changed with the inclusion of this Grand Prix event.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't have a North American section of our tour," Duncan said. "It'd be really nice to get more exposure. It'd be more fun to compete in front of a more hometown crowd."

It was the Canadians who took advantage of the first stop back on the continent since 2013. Canadians took five of the six spots on the podiums.

Reigning Olympic gold medalist Marielle Thompson won the women's skicross final. The 24-year-old from North Vancouver secured her 18th career World Cup gold, which was her 29th overall. Brittany Phelan and India Sherret of Team Canada finished second and third.

Canadian Brady Leman finished third behind Duncan, while Switzerland's Armin Niederer finished second.

As Thompson received her own praise from teammates, Duncan said the Canadian men and women skicross teams feature young, established depth.

The youngsters, headlined by Thompson's dominating career, eventually will "phase out" the elder statesmen, Duncan said.

American skicross athlete Tyler Wallasch, who finished seventh, was named the U.S. national champion as the top-finishing American. The 22-year-old from Mammoth Mountain, Calif., won the 2015 junior world skicross title, but he has battled back from an ACL tear last March that left him off the slopes for five months.

"This first half of the season, I went in thinking I was best in the world," Wallasch said. "But it's taken about a month-and-a-half to get back to racing form. Today was definitely proof to myself that I knew I could do it."

Friday's qualifying races for the final, Wallasch said, featured whiteout conditions at times down the Solitude skicross course. But to be able to snag a spot in the final is another crucial step in his young career, he said.

"I just tried to go out there and got elbow-to-elbow, buckle-to-buckle, and that's what it ended up being," he said. "It was a tough fight all the way down."

American Tania Prymak, who finished fifth overall, was named the female U.S. national champion.

Twitter: @chriskamrani —

2017 U.S. Grand Prix World Cup

Solitude Mountain Resort

Saturday • Snowboardcross finals: Noon to 1:40 p.m.

Sunday • Snowboardcross team finals: Noon to 1:20 p.m.