Cassie Sharpe is still looking for gold at the FIS World Ski Championships.
The Whistler halfpipe skier put down an outstanding run in her first attempt at Park City, Utah on Feb. 9, tallying a 94.40. That score held up until the third and final round when Estonia's Kelly Sildaru landed a 95.00 to hand Sharpe her second silver at the event.
"Kelly laid down a phenomenal final run," said Sharpe, who was also second at Kreischberg, Austria in 2015, in a release. "I'm happy for her, though obviously I'm a bit disappointed at having missed coming in first."
Fellow Canadian Rachael Karker took fourth, 5.40 points back of third-place Brita Sigourney of the United States.
On the men's side, Canadian Noah Bowman took home the bronze, finishing 2.60 points back of champion Aaron Blunck of the United States while France's Kevin Rolland went home with silver. Landing his final run, Bowman narrowly edged out Whistler's Simon d'Artois by just 0.2 points. Other Canadians included Brendan MacKay in 11th and Evan Marineau in 12th.
In the moguls, Canadian Mikaël Kingsbury continued his dominance by winning both the single and dual moguls events. In the former, he bested Australian Matt Graham and former Whistlerite Daichi Hara of Japan, in order, while in the latter, he topped American Bradley Wilson and Hara. Other Canadians in the singles event were Philippe Marquis (sixth), Laurent Dumais (24th) and Pemberton's Brenden Kelly (25th). In the dual competition, Dumais took 12th, Kerrian Chunlaud was 18th and Kelly ended up 29th.
As for the women, Whistler's Sofiane Gagnon ended up as the top Canadian in the dual event, taking 10th as France's Perrine Laffont topped Americans Jaelin Kauf and Tess Johnson for gold. Fellow Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe ended up 12th. In the singles contest, Gagnon was once again 10th, though Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe were fifth and seventh, respectively. Kazakhstan's Yulia Galysheva topped Australia's Jakara Anthony and Laffont for gold.
Meanwhile, in the snowboard events, Canadian Mark McMorris went home with a silver in the slopestyle event, as his 93.00 was just 0.25 back of champion Chris Corning of the United States. Another American, Judd Henkes, went home with the bronze while Whistler resident Darcy Sharpe took 10th and fellow Canadian Mikey Ciccarelli placed 15th. Canada had three women in the top 10, meanwhile, as Jasmine Baird led the way in sixth while Brooke Voigt and Laurie Blouin were back to back in eighth and ninth, respectively. New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott topped Norway's Silje Norendal and American Jamie Anderson for gold.
In the halfpipe, Derek Livingston was the lone Canadian in the men's finals, placing seventh. Australian Scotty James topped Japan's Yuto Totsuka and Switzerland's Patrick Burgener for gold. In the women's event, Canada's Elizabeth Hosking took home eighth while American Chloe Kim ran away with the title ahead of China's Xuetong Cai and fellow Yankee Maddie Mastro.
Full results are available online at www.fis-ski.com.
Corless podiums at Junior World Cup
Whistler's Natalie Corless continued a stellar season at Winterberg, Germany on Feb. 8.
The 15-year-old posted a third-place finish in the Youth 'A' women's event, finishing 0.604 seconds behind winner Sophie Gerloff of Germany. Melina Cielaszyk, also of Germany, was in the runner-up position.
It was an excellent day for all of Canada's entries in the event, as Whistler's Caitlin Nash took fourth, Calgary's Ava Luscombe and Kailey Allan were fifth and sixth, respectively, and Whistler's Midori Holland took eighth in the 45-sled field.
Nash and Corless also slid to an eighth-place finish in the doubles event, 0.861 seconds behind champions Jessica Degenhardt and Vanessa Schneider of Germany. Austria's Selina Egle and Lara Kipp took second while Germany's Luisa Romanenko and Pauline Patz were third.
In the men's race, Devin Wardrope was the top Canadian in 16th, 1.424 seconds off the pace set by winner Gints Berzins of Latvia, who edged Germany's Pascal Kunze and Russia's Pavel Repilov. Whistler's Garrett Reid was 20th, Dylan Morse took 24th and Thomas Fassnidge ended up in 31st.
In Viessmann FIL World Cup action in Oberhof, Germany, Whistler's Reid Watts put up the best Canadian singles result with a 19th-place finish, 0.867 seconds behind the pace of winner Semen Pavlichenko of Russia. Runners-up were Roman Repilov, also of Russia, in second and Latvia's Kristers Aparjods in third.
Pemberton slider Trinity Ellis, meanwhile, was 21st in the women's event, 1.727 seconds behind champion Natalie Geisenberger of Germany. As part of a podium sweep, Tatjana Huefner and Dajana Eitberger took second and third, respectively. Whistler's Veronica Ravenna, representing Argentina, was just behind Ellis in 22nd.
In the doubles event, Canadians Tristan Walker and Justin Snith tied their season-best fifth, 0.722 seconds behind winners Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt of Germany. Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken, also of Germany, were second and the Latvian duo of Andris Sics and Juris Sics placed third.
Canada wrapped the weekend with a seventh-place finish in the team event as Ellis, Watts, and Walker-Snith were 1.593 seconds behind the winning Italian team. Germany and Latvia rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.
Young freestylers star on Timber Tour
Freestyle Whistler athletes went home with seven gold medals despite challenging conditions at the Timber Tour stop at Mount Washington from Feb. 8 to 10.
Chase Capicik led the way, winning all three of her U16 events.
In the slopestyle, Capicik's teammate Malica Malherbe placed second, while on the men's side, Matthaeus Heslop topped the U14 event while Ewan Clemenson took third, and Evan Bush won the U16 competition. Meanwhile, Liam Tennock took second among U18s.
In the moguls, Capicik led a club sweep with Malherbe in second and Armstrong in third, while in the U14 women's event, Leda Walker and Emilia Oziewicz took first and second. As for the men, Phillip Kang and Daniel Gannon were second and third, respectively, in the U16 event while Landon Owen-Mold was third in the U14 contest.
Lastly, in the big air, Capicik was the squad's lone female medallist, though on the men's side, Heslop won the U14 contest, while Tennock took second in the U18 event and Stephen Lindsay-Ross was third in the U16 challenge.
As for the Super Youth event held at the same time, Westley Corrigan (first in U8 men), Armaan Asrar Haghighi (first in U12 men), Avery Krumme (first in U12 women), Poppy Clemenson (second in U10 women) and Aurelia Booth (third in U10 women) all medalled in the slopestyle.
In the moguls, Asrar Haghighi led a team sweep of the U12 men's podium with Findlay Henderson in second and Aiden Dawson in third. In the women's event, Krumme won the U12 event while Zoe Henderson and Poppy Clemenson took second and third in the U10 contest.
Lastly, in big air, Krumme won the U12 women's event, while Clemenson and Henderson went first and third, respectively, in the U10 contest. As for the men, Asrar Haghighi and Findlay Henderson took second and third, in order.
Full results are available online at freestylebc.ski.
Locals podium at Mount Baker
A strong contingent of local snowboarders headed south of the border on the weekend to take part in the Legendary Banked Slalom at Mount Baker.
Sisters Amalia and Juliette Pelchat won their respective categories (winning the Next Gen girls and Junior girls, respectively). Meanwhile, Anthony Shelly was second in the Next Gen boys category and Sara Niblock took third in the pro women's event.
Full results are available online at lbs.mtbaker.us.
