Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Freestylers go out with a bang

Rochon finishes career with a gold performance All’s well that ends well for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team.

Rochon finishes career with a gold performance

All’s well that ends well for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team.

With consistent performances and over a dozen podium finishes to its credit in the 2002-2003 season, the Canadian team once again showed why it is one of the most dominant forces on the World Cup tour.

The season wrapped up in Europe last weekend, with the aerials team competing in a pair of events at Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic, and the bump skiers in single and dual moguls competition at Voss, Norway.

Starting with the mogul skiers, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Quebec, finished in 11 th place – about eight spots back of the podium he wanted, but with more than enough points to finish second overall in the World Cup standings.

A better finish at Voss would have granted him the overall title.

"The course was steep and icy and I misjudged my jumps," said Rousseau. "I went too high and too fast. It was probably my worst run ever in which I actually finished. I was feeling very nervous."

Not surprising considering that the 23-year-old missed the Olympics and the end of the season last year with a pair of broken vertebrae after a crash during an icy training run.

Rousseau finished with 616 points, 12 points back of Travis Cabral of the U.S.

The gold medal at Voss went to Janne Lahtela of Finland, followed by Luke Westerlund and Travis Mayer of the U.S.

Stephan Rochon was the top Canadian in seventh place.

Also for Canada, Chris Wong of Prince George was 17 th , Warren Tanner of Grimsby, Ontario was 23 rd , and Scott Bellavance of Whistler and Prince George was 24 th .

In the women’s moguls, Shannon Bahrke of the U.S. took the gold medal and the overall World Cup title. Aiko Uemura of Japan was second, and Kari Traa of Norway – past champion and the runner-up to Bahrke this season – finished third.

Kristi Richards of Summerland was the top Canadian in eighth place. Elisa Kurylowicz of Manotick, Ontario was 13 th , Sylvia Kerfoot of Vancouver 15 th and Jennifer Simm of Prince George on 16 th .

On Sunday, March 2, Rochon’s 10-year career came to a close as the 28-year-old announced his retirement earlier this year. He said his only remaining goal this year was to go out on a high note, and he more than accomplished that in the dual moguls with a gold medal performance.

Rochon, a two-time Olympian, edged out Toby Dawson of the U.S. and Lahtela of Finland. He also finished second overall in the points behind Lahtela.

Rousseau was also impressive on Sunday, but had to settle for eighth after losing a tough quarter-final race.

On the women’s team, Kristi Richards finished in fourth place after losing her bronze medal match-up against Shelly Robertson of the U.S. Elisa Kurylowicz was fifth, and Tami Bradley of Vancouver and Whistler, who is also retiring after this season, finished sixth.

Like Rousseau and Rochon, Bradley also finished second overall in the dual-mogul standings.

The mogul season wraps up at the national champions at Apex from March 28 to 30.

Meanwhile the aerialists were having their ups and downs in the Czech Republic with events on Saturday and Sunday.

Ottawa’s Jeff Bean took the silver medal, maintaining his lead on top of the overall standings.

The gold went to Dmitri Arkhipov of Russia by almost seven points, and Xiaotao Ou of China was third.

Kyle Nissen of Calgary and Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ontario were fourth and seventh respectively to give the Canadians three spots in the top-10. Warren Shouldice and Ryan Snow of Calgary were 20 th and 23 rd .

"Dmitri had run right before so I knew there was a big score I had to beat," said Bean, who has four medals this year including two gold medals. "So I told myself this is an important one. I was able to come through under the pressure and stay first overall. I also had to downgrade one of my jumps by removing a twist because that’s what the judges seem to like more."

After Saturday’s contest, Bean had 556 points in the aerials standings. Arkhipov sat in second place with 536 points, and Omischl wound up third.

In a rare lapse, the Canadian women were shut out of the podium. The gold went to World Cup leader Lydia Ierodiaconou of Australia, the silver to Nina Li of China, and the bronze to Olympic champion Alisa Camplin, also of Australia.

Bean’s hopes were dashed the following day when he was involved in a serious crash during training for the night time final. Bean, who is known for his huge airs, landed directly on a female coach with the Chinese team. She was knocked unconscious and was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was treated for a broken arm and superficial cuts to the head.

Bean wasn’t hurt, but was shaken by the incident.

"I thank God she wasn’t seriously injured," he said. "This was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. She didn’t realize I was still up there even though my coach gave me the clear signal and the announcer said I was coming down. She was moving into position to signal her athlete who was jumping after me."

Unable to concentrate, Bean finished in 14 th place in the competition, and dropped to third in the overall standings. Omischl took the gold medal for Canada, capping the best season of his career and moving into second in the overall standings.

Arkhipov finished second, winning the silver and pulling ahead of the Canadians to win the World Cup title. Joe Pack of the U.S. was third.

Also for Canada, Kyle Nissen of Calgary was eighth and Warren Shouldice of Calgary 12 th .

Once again the Canadian women missed the podium, with Veronica Brenner of Sharon, Ontario finishing fourth, Veronika Bauer of Toronto sixth, Karen MacDonald of Toronto 15 th , and Deidra Dionne of Red Deer, Alberta 17 th .

Evelyne Leu of Switzerland won the gold medal. Silver went to Assol Slivets of Belarus, and bronze to Alisa Camplin, who moved into the lead to take the overall World Cup title.