The Canadian Freestyle Ski Team put an exclamation mark on another strong season with six athletes claiming medals in the FIS World Freestyle Ski Championships at Ruka, Finland this week.
Leading the way was Jennifer Heil of Spruce Grove, Alberta, who won the women’s dual moguls competition, and Steve Omischl, the men’s aerials world champion. Heil is the overall World Cup champion for the past two years, but this was her first world championship medal.
It wasn’t an easy day, as Heil faced one strong opponent after another before starting in the gates against reigning world champion Kari Traa of Norway.
"I’m so excited I was able to dig deep," said Heil, who was disappointed with her earlier fifth place finish in the single moguls. Heil has been competing all season with a broken thumb, and was exhausted after a schedule that included 10 competitions in 12 weeks. "I had to work really hard to turn the pace around."
Whistler’s Sylvia Kerfoot continued her amazing comeback from a concussion this season with a sixth place finish. She was knocked out of medal contention in the round of eight by Aiko Uemura of Japan, the bronze medal winner, but proved her skills earlier by defeating Austrian star Margarita Marbler in the round of 16.
Stephanie St-Pierre and Elisa Kuylowicz finished out of the finals.
In the men’s dual moguls, Toby Dawson of the U.S. defeated Sami Mustonen of Finland for the gold, while overall World Cup moguls champion Jeremy Bloom was third. Dale Begg-Smith, a former Whistler skier who is competing for Australia, was fifth, while Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Quebec and Marc-André Moreau of Chambly, Quebec were seventh and eighth.
The day before, Moreau, 23, finished a close second to Nathan Roberts of the U.S. in the single moguls, while Dale Begg-Smith was third.
This was Moreau’s first world championship appearance, and the best result of his career.
"It’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life," he said. "I pushed the gas and I held it together."
Teammates Warren Tanner of Grimsby, Ontario and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau were sixth and seventh.
In the women’s single moguls, Jennifer Heil was fifth, Sylvia Kerfoot eighth and Stephanie St-Pierre ninth.
"I really hoped for a podium, but I can’t be disappointed with my weekend at all with sixth and eighth," said Kerfoot. "The level of skiing was incredible, you couldn’t make one little mistake if you even wanted to be in the top-10. There’s little things here and there to work on, but I’m feeling really confident."
And tired. The nationals this weekend are a priority, but Kerfoot is looking forward to returning to Whistler to relax and do a bit of freeskiing before the spring training season begins. From here on in, she won’t see more than two weeks off between now and the 2006 Winter Olympics.
When it comes to training, she’s hoping to qualify some more difficult tricks and increase her jump scores for next year. In her loss to Uemera in the dual moguls, Kerfoot kept pace with the Japanese star the whole way down, but in the end Uemera’s higher jump scores put her ahead.
Kerfoot missed last summer’s training with an injury, but now that she’s healthy she wants to practice back full flips and 720 D-spins, as well as other off-axis tricks.
"I definitely need to have one of those jumps for next yhear, which means a lot of time on the water ramps this summer," said Kerfoot.
For motivation, she says it helps to have a girl like Heil on the team. "She’s an incredibly strong skier and has proven she’s the best in the world this year," said Kerfoot. "Having a Canadian woman be the best in the world, it encourages me to train harder and work harder to be able to get on the podium with her."
With her sixth place finish in the dual moguls, Kerfoot joined the medallists on stage at the World Championships as they played the Canadian anthem. "That was my favourite moment of the weekend, and we got to hear the anthem three times last week. That’s what motivates me," she said.
Hannah Kearney of the U.S. won the women’s title ahead of Nikola Sudova of Czech Republic and Margarita Marbler of Austria.
The aerials were also good to the Canadians. In the men’s competition, Steve Omischl and Jeff Bean of Ontario finished first and second overall, matching their showing in the qualification round.
Omischl, 25, was the overall World Cup champion last year, but got off to a slow start this season to finish second.
"It’s the most calm I’ve been for any event. I knew if I competed the way I train, then I’d come through," he said. He also said his second jump, a quad-twisting triple somersault, was the best of his career.
Bean, who has had a difficult season after breaking his neck in training, was ecstatic. "I’m surprised in a way… but this is what I came to do," he said. "(Finishing first and second is) a perfect way to end the season. Now we can go home to the nationals and have some fun."
Alexei Grishin of Belarus was third, while Kyle Nissen and Warren Shouldice of Calgary were fifth and ninth.
In the women’s competition, Nina Li of China followed up her 11 medals on the World Cup circuit with yet another gold. Evelyne Leu of Switzerland was second, while Xinxin Gou of China finished third. Canada’s best performance came from Toronto’s Veronika Bauer, who finished in 11th place.
The world championships were extended to include halfpipe and skiercross events. Anik Demers of Quebec was the top Canadian in eighth. Aleisha Cline and Ashleigh McIvor of Whistler, Canada’s top skiercross performers, missed the world championships with injuries.
In halfpipe, Sarah Burke of Ontario finished with the gold medal, more than four points ahead of her closest competitor, Kristi Leskinen of the U.S. Grete Eliasen of Norway was third.
"I’m used to the X-Games, but this is totally different," said Burke. "To be here with the other disciplines… this is world class… it’s awesome to be a part of it." Burke is hoping that skier halfpipe will be added to the Olympics.
Corey Vanular, 17, finished third in the men’s competition behind Mathias Wecxsteen and Loic Collomb-Patton of France.
