AROSA, Switzerland – Maine Olympian Seth Wescott, the 2006 gold medalist in snowboardcross, won the first World Cup race of his career Saturday.

Wescott, who was raised in Farmington and lives at the base of Sugarloaf in Carrabassett Valley, beat out Markus Schairer of Austria and David Speiser of Germany to capture his first World Cup victory. Nick Baumgartner of Michigan and Graham Watanabe of Idaho were the only other Americans to finish in the top 10.

“This is a good start to the season. I’m riding good comparatively to everyone else in the world, and I just feel like I need to take advantage of that,” Wescott told www.ussnowboarding.com following the event. “I’ll hopefully get a few more World Cup wins in Austria and then go get my World Championship title back.”

After injuries hampered him the past two seasons, Wescott says he’s back at full strength. After two races, Wescott is second in the snowboardcross standings.

Mainers will be able to see Wescott compete in the World Cup series when the U.S. Snowboarding World Cup comes to Sunday River in late February.