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Canadians ready for World Championships

More than 300 athletes will be in town for one of freestyle skiing’s biggest events Whether you’re into bumps or jumps, the 2001 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships boasts some of the strongest competition ever assembled.

More than 300 athletes will be in town for one of freestyle skiing’s biggest events

Whether you’re into bumps or jumps, the 2001 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships boasts some of the strongest competition ever assembled.

More than 300 athletes representing almost 20 different countries will be in Whistler from Jan. 15 to 21, competing in single moguls, dual moguls, and aerials championship events. This is the first time Canada has hosted the Freestyle World Ski Championships and the first time Whistler has hosted an FIS World Championship event.

And Canada, as usual, is looking good. Despite the apparent Finnish stranglehold on the moguls podium – led by Janne Lahtela – Canada boasts some of the strongest mogul skiers in the world. The list includes 1994 Olympic gold-medalist and two-time world champion Jean-Luc Brassard. Stephane Rochon, and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau have also won their share of medals, and Rousseau finished last season as the top Canuck, in third place overall.

Internationally, watch for reigning world champion Lahtela, who won both the single and dual moguls championships last season. Finnish teammates Lauri Lassila and Sami Mustonen are also strong contenders, finishing second and third at the previous World Championships behind Lahtela. The 1998 Olympic gold medalist, Jonny Mosely of the U.S., is also coming out of semi-retirement this season.

On the women’s side, Tami Bradley of Vancouver/Whistler hopes to build on the best season of her career as the top Canadian woman in both single and dual moguls, placing sixth and seventh overall, including two bronze medals. Look for strong supporting performances from three-year World Cup veteran Sylvia Kerfoot of Vancouver, and rookies Jennifer Heil, Jennifer Simm and Rachel Belliveau. Heil won last year’s national championships in both single and dual moguls.

Ann Batelle of the U.S. won the overall title last season, Sweden’s Marja Elfman is in a good spot after wining six medals, and Kari Traa of Norway was the top-ranked dual moguls skier.

In the aerials competition, Canada is sitting pretty with two men in the top three – Steve Omischl (second) and Andy Capicik (third) – and the return of Nicolas Fontaine, who has won the overall World Cup title for the past four seasons.

Eric Bergoust of the U.S. is currently ranked number one in the world. Dmitri Dashinski and Alexei Grichin of Belarus have been on a tear recently, earning four podiums last season, and American Joe Pack is also off to a strong start this season after winning on Blackcomb in December.

On the women’s side, Toronto’s Veronika Bauer is currently ranked second behind Jacqui Cooper of Australia (who dominated the World Cup tour last season), and rookie Diedre Dionne is off to a great start with a silver medal finish at Blackcomb. Canada’s Veronica Brenner, who was ranked number two overall last season, is out of competition at the moment after tearing MCL and ACL ligaments in training.

Cooper is currently the most dominant aerialist on the tour, going bigger with a higher degree of difficulty than the competition. The only woman to land triples on the tour, Cooper won four out of seven cups last year on her way to the overall title and she is also the reigning world champion. Hilde Lid of Norway is a consistent competitor who finished third in the rankings last season, and Australian Alisa Camplin has also started to move up with a second place finish at the finals last season.

If you’re new to freestyle skiing, or find the action a little too fast to follow sometimes, a better understanding of the format and the judging criteria of the events can help you get more out of the competition.

Single Moguls: In single moguls, competitors essentially race the clock while concentrating on the fluidity of their run and the execution of their two required jumps. Turns are worth 50 per cent of the total score – five judges have five points each to award competitors, and the highest and lowest scores are dropped to give a maximum of total of 15 points.

Speed is worth 25 per cent of the score and a maximum of 7.5 points based on a pace-time established based on the course length. Each skier’s time is compared to the pace time and given a relative point value.

Air is worth the remaining 25 per cent, as two judges score up to 7.5 points in total or 3.75 points per jump. Each judge evaluates form (2.5 points) and difficulty (1.25 points) on each jump. The two jumps must be from different categories, but can have the same degree of difficulty. The final air score is an average of the two judges’ scores.

Traditional jumps include backscratchers, daffy’s, double uprights (two moves in one jump), iron crosses (ski tips cross), Kosaks (combination of spread eagle and Zudnik), spread eagles, twisters, 360’s, and Zudnik’s (skier reaches for ski tips). Competitors routinely combine moves or add grabs to increase the difficulty level, and entertainment value, of their jumps.

Dual Moguls: The duals are scored by seven judges who each have five points to divide between the two competitor. Four judges watch for turns, two judges watch for air, and a third judge is responsible for speed, which is based on the time differential between the two competitors. While the competitors are not racing, a faster run increases an athletes’ chances of winning.

Dual moguls is also an elimination format, with rounds of 64, 32, 16 and 8. The winner of each round moves on until the semi-finals, where a consolation run takes place to determine third and fourth place.

Because competitors are pacing one another through the course rather than appealing to the judges, dual moguls are often one of the more exciting freestyle events.

Aerials: While the athletes seem to be spinning and twisting too fast to tell one jump from another, if you ask a competitor they’ll tell you that at 20 metres it feels like slow motion. Aerialists must do two different jumps off of one of five "kickers", specially sculpted jumps that allow competitors to jump higher or launch at different angles.

Air and form are worth 70 per cent of the total score, awarded by five judges with 7 points each. The highest and lowest scores and dropped for a maximum score of 21.

Air makes up 20 per cent of the score, while form is worth 50 per cent. The landing is worth 30 per cent of the total. The judges’ scores are then multiplied by the degree of difficulty rating of the athlete’s jump, ranging from 2.0 for a single flip to 4.525 for variations on a quadruple-twisting triple somersault jump.

The variety of jumps can get complicated, ranging from a simple back layout to a full-double full-full – a quadruple twisting triple back flip with a double twist on the second flip.

Official training will take place on Jan. 15 and 16, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on JJ’s Jump site and on the moguls course on Davies Dervish beside the Glacier Lodge on Blackcomb.

The moguls qualification will take place from 10:30 to 12:30 on Jan. 17, followed by the official opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m. The single moguls finals will take place on Jan. 19, between 1 and 2 p.m. and the dual moguls will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Jan. 21.

The aerials qualification will take place on Jan. 18, from 9:40 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the finals will take place on Jan. 20, from noon to 2 p.m..

The awards ceremony for each event will take place at 6:30 each evening on the main World Championship stage.