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Kerfoot back to form in freestyle nationals

Whistler mogul skier nabs two bronze medals at Apex

The 2005-06 freestyle season officially wrapped up last weekend with the Canadian National Freestyle Ski Championships at Apex Mountain Resort, held one week after the FIS Freestyle World Cup finals.

Competitors included members of the national team, which just claimed the overall Nations Cup as the top World Cup team this past season, as well as the national development program, provincial teams, and freestyle clubs.

For Whistler mogul skier Sylvia Kerfoot, two podium results at the nationals helped to compensate for an otherwise tough season on the World Cup.

In October she hyper-extended a knee while practicing her front tuck, bruising her tibia bone. Doctors said it would take anywhere from three months to a year to heal, but Kerfoot elected to join the national team on the World Cup circuit in the hope of earning a berth in the Olympics. Even with a knee brace it proved more challenging than she expected.

"I thought there’d be some loss there, but I was at about 50 per cent physically," she said. "It did heal over the course of the season but March is a little late to come back, I was a little too sloppy. Even with a couple of good results, like a 10 th and 12 th on the World Cup – not my best but decent – with the strength of the national team it was not good enough for the Games.

"In another year I might have made it, but we have such a strong team."

Kerfoot earned a pair of bronze medals in single and dual moguls at Apex, edging out some of her teammates on the national team.

The first event on the weekend was the single moguls on Friday, where Olympic and World Cup champion Jennifer Heil edged past national team member Kristi Richards of Summerland by a score of 25.86 to 24.65. Kerfoot’s score was 22.77.

"It was not my best run, but it was decent," said Kerfoot. "My best run was in the semi-finals, but once the finals came around the weather just went crazy on us."

Fog delayed the first run in the morning, and cut the between run training session out of the program. By the time the finals took place the athletes saw snow, hail and dropping temperatures as the sun finally came out leaving the course icy and hard-packed.

"It was just a matter of staying focused," said Heil of the changing conditions.

For the men’s moguls, Marc-Andre Moreau of Chambly, Quebec (fourth in the Olympics) was the top male with a score of 26.85.

Alexandre Bilodeau was a close second in 25.92, while Matt Crosby, a member of the development team from Summerland, edged his way into third place. Chris Wong of Prince George, expected to podium in this event, missed the podium with a miscue on his second jump in the qualifier.

The aerials took place on Saturday with far more stable conditions. Steve Omischl of North Bay, Ontario – a past world champion – took the gold medal to finish his season on a high note. Omischl was Canada’s top jumper for almost three years, but struggled with an ankle injury this season and a higher-degree of difficulty in tricks.

At Apex he landed a pair of different quintuplet twisting (five spins) triple somersaults for a score of 245.09, almost 20 points ahead of his closest competitor.

"It was a gamble all season long and, as a result, I didn’t do well," said Omischl.

"It’s good to be the national champion, but the only focus I had this season was the Olympics."

Second place went to Ottawa’s Jeff Bean, who was looking for his third national title. Bean also had a mixed season, edging out Ryan Blais for the last spot on the Olympic team only to have both skis fly off his feet in the qualifier – one of the most amazing spectacles from the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. Warren Shouldice of Calgary was third.

On the women’s side, Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay took the national title ahead of Veronika Bauer and Elise Pallard.

The dual moguls took place on Sunday. Jennifer Heil opted to sit out this event, leaving it wide open. Kristi Richards took the gold after edging out surprise finalist Maxi Dufour-Lapointe in the last heat. Sylvia Kerfoot lost a narrow semi-final to Dufour-Lapointe, but went on to beat Henriane Latour in the bronze medal dual.

"It was kind of funny, nobody had competed in dual moguls all season until the nationals but it was so much fun," said Kerfoot.

She said the highlight of the day was Dufour-Lapointe thanking her for pushing her in the semi-finals.

"She was thanking me, saying ‘you pushed me so hard, I’ve never skied so hard,’ which is kind of what the nationals are all about and part of the reason I take part," she said. "I’m coming off an injury, so I could probably have gotten out of it but I’ve always thought it was important to be there with all the skiers from the development team.

"We’re there to push the younger skiers and help make them better. That’s the goal, to build the sport in Canada."

For the men, Alexandre Bilodeau edged out Garrett Simm of the development team in the finals, while Matt Crosby picked up his second bronze against Guillaume Turgeon of Quebec.

In addition to the regular freestyle events there was also a national halfpipe championships.

Rosalind Groenewoud of Alberta won the women’s event, followed by Emily Higgins of Vernon and Gillian McIver of Ontario.

Kalle Leinonen of Finland took the men’s title, followed by Matthew Hayward of Alberta and Stuart Chapman of Apex.

Now that the season is over Kerfoot plans to take some time to heal her body, and to spend the next few months in the gym instead of on her skis. There will be some training camps during the summer, which she hopes to attend, but "my first priority is getting my knee back in shape," she said.

She intends to join the national team on the World Cup circuit again this December, but is not looking too far into the future.

"As for 2010 I would never rule it out, that’s for sure, but four years is pretty far ahead at this point," she said. "I’ll be focusing on rehabbing this summer, and in the next little while I’ll figure out where 2010 fits in.

"I just want to get back to where I was at the end of (the 2004-2005) season.

While the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association will be putting together a four-year athlete development plan leading up to 2010, Kerfoot says that the team isn’t ramping up for the next Games just yet. There are three and a half World Cup seasons and two world championships before 2010 to prepare for – once the athletes have had a chance to rest up and heal from this competition season.

"We’ll be bringing a strong team (to 2010), that I can say," she said.