Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Canadians on top of Fernie freestyle

Rochon, St. Pierre, Bradley win medals in moguls; Bauer golden in aerials It was a good weekend for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team as the athletes brought home four out of 12 medals from the World Cup in Fernie last weekend.

Rochon, St. Pierre, Bradley win medals in moguls; Bauer golden in aerials

It was a good weekend for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team as the athletes brought home four out of 12 medals from the World Cup in Fernie last weekend.

In the dual moguls contest on Saturday, three Canadians collected medals. For the first time ever in a World Cup moguls event, two of those medals went to Canadian women.

Stephanie St. Pierre of Victoriaville, Quebec surprised the competition as she skied her way to the final round on Saturday, where she faced teammate Tami Bradley. The 17-year-old freestyle phenom was fast out of the start on the shorter course, and fluid all the way to the bottom to take the gold medal.

"I’m really shocked, I can’t believe I’m here," she said of her podium performance.

Although she is younger and less experienced than the other competitors, she said she got over an attack of nerves early in the day and gained confidence with each of her five runs.

"I’m not nervous at all and I just want to ski my best," she said.

On her way to the gold, she bested Laurel Shanley of the U.S., teammate Sylvia Kerfoot of Vancouver and Maria Despas of Australia. In the semi-finals she defeated Margarita Marbler of Austria to face Bradley.

For Bradley, who divides her time between Whistler and Vancouver, it was a relief to be back on top of her game after two bad weeks at competitions.

"I was skiing well in training all week, and I was really confident and feeling good going into the contest. I talked to (husband) Andy (Capicik) the night before and he can always tell if I’m going to do well just by talking to me, and he was right again," said Bradley, 32.

After getting a bye in the first round, Bradley’s confidence was shaken a little in the morning when she found out that she would be racing against Olympic silver medallist Shannon Bahrke in the second round. After getting by Bahrke it was Margarita Marbler of Austria, who is ranked third in the world, then Russian skier Daria Serova.

"Usually you expect to face the top skiers later on, not right off the bat like that. But I just said to myself that today was the day I was going to beat them," Bradley said.

Bradley beat Bahrke, Marbler, and Marina Cherkasova of Russia to make it into the semi-finals, where she faced Ingrid Berntsen of Norway. She was up in the gates when she learned that St. Pierre had won her semi-final match-up against Marbler. Marbler went on to win the consolation final and finish third.

"I thought, ‘wouldn’t it be awesome if Canada could be first and second today?’ That’s never happened in moguls before," said Bradley. "That just gave me the biggest boost, and when the race started I never looked back.

"When I got to the bottom and heard that I was going to the finals, St. Pierre and I just looked at each other and started laughing and hugging. She had never won a medal before, and now we were guaranteed the top two spots."

In the finals, Bradley had a late start and figures she lost St. Pierre by the first turn. She played catch-up, but it was a shorter course, and in the end she finished less than a second back of the rookie.

"I kind of lost from the start, but it was still a really good dual. It was big day for both of us," said Bradley.

Bradley has announced that she will retire at the end of this season, after the nationals in March, and plans to go to school next year. While she will miss the competition, at least she’s going out a medallist. Plus, she’s really looking forward to free skiing.

"I’m really looking forward to getting back to Whistler in April. I think I had one day of freeskiing on Blackcomb last year," she said.

It also feels good, she said, to be leaving the team to a promising group of young skiers.

Joining Bradley and St. Pierre in the rankings were Sylvia Kerfoot and Elisa Kurylowicz in ninth, and Kristi Richards in 17 th .

In the men’s dual moguls, Stephane Rochon of St-Sauveur, Quebec, breezed through the round robin and the semi-finals to face Janne Lahtela of Finland in the final. Rochon was actually leading the charge, but Lahtela caught him before the bottom with some incredible skiing.

For Rochon, who is also retiring after this season, a second-place finish was just what he needed.

"I was wondering if I was still good enough to make it to the podium, with two fourths and a fifth (this season). I had lost a little confidence, but this medal gives me some good energy for the Worlds," said Rochon.

Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Quebec made it to the round of eight before pulling out of the contest. He is recovering from a serious neck injury, and wanted to stay healthy prior to the World Championships this week at Park City, Utah.

In the aerials competition on Sunday, Veronika Bauer of Toronto beat out a strong women’s field to earn her third gold medal of the season. She was followed by Alla Tsuper of Belarus and Nina Li of China.

Also for Canada, Amber Peterson was 11 th , Deidra Dionne 13 th , Melissa Prefontaine 17 th , Veronica Brenner 19 th , and Karen MacDonald 22 nd .

In the men’s contest, the Canadians didn’t manage to put anyone on the podium, but five Canadians finished sixth through 10th – Steve Omischl, Kyle Nissen, Warren Shouldice, Jeff Bean and Spero Cord.

The gold medal went to Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic, followed by Dmitri Arkhipov of Russia and Xiaotao Ou of China.

The biannual World Championships take place from Jan. 29 to Feb. 1 in Park City.