By Andrew Mitchell
With events cancelled throughout Europe over the course of the season and a disappointing world championships, the Canadian Snowboard Team at last rose to the challenge this past weekend at the Nokia FIS World Cup in Furano, Japan. All told the team netted three gold medals, one bronze medal, two fourth place finishes and several top-12 results.
The World Cup weekend got underway on Friday with the parallel giant slalom. Once again the hero of the day was Ontario’s Matthew Morison, who persevered in round after round of racing to at last upset Switzerland’s Simon Schoch in the final to win the first gold medal of his career.
A rookie this season, Morison now has a complete collection for his trophy case — bronze, silver and gold.
Meanwhile Mont Tremblant’s Jasey-Jay Anderson just missed the bronze medal after being edged out by Rok Marguc of Slovenia in the small final.
Whistler’s Mark Fawcett, the men’s alpine coach, gave high praise to Morison’s abilities.
“It was a really challenging course, we’ve had wind and snowstorms for the past few days,” he said. “But it was perfect for Matt. You had to be a super athlete, and a super technician, and he fits both of those. This was the best day in eight years for men’s alpine snowboarding.
“He just had some recoveries that would have broken anyone, and it was hard to believe that he just snapped back up sometimes. It showed that he had a great focus. He’s pretty impressive for a 19-year-old.”
Michael Lambert, another rookie competing with the national team as part of Project 2010, placed 12 th out of 43 racers.
On the women’s side of things Kimiko Zakreski made the finals, but ended her day in 12 th place. Christelle Doyon and Caroline Calve also cracked the top-30 in 20 th and 28 th respectively.
Isabella Dal Calbon of Italy took the gold, followed by Fraenzi Kohli of Switzerland and Alexandra Jekova of Bulgaria.
In the snowboardcross on Saturday, local rider Maëlle Ricker and Vancouver’s Drew Neilson each won gold medals against Olympic-calibre fields.
Ricker was the fastest qualifier the day before and won round after round until the finals, where she faced top U.S. rider Lindsey Jacobellis, the most dominant racer in the world for the past two years. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof of the U.S. and Diane Thermoz Liaudy of France also made the last heat, but given their performances earlier in the day this was obviously going to be a battle between Ricker and Jacobellis.
Ricker pulled ahead early after a neck-and-neck start, and managed to hold the fast line all the way to the bottom.
“It was a really good course,” she said. “I only rode one time trial in the morning, and got out of the gate pretty fast. I raced against Lindsey in the semi-finals and the finals, and beat her both times.
“I was stoked for Drew too. He just killed it today, and was at another level from the other guys.”
Neilson also led all heats prior to the finals, where he faced top American riders Seth Wescott and Nate Holland, as well as Canadian rookie Simon Bonenfant. Like Ricker, Neilson took charge early and left it to the other riders to battle over the silver and bronze.
“I’m really stoked with today’s win,” said Neilson. “Our boards were really fast, and I had a great qualifying run. I made one mistake in the first round, but managed to pull through and didn’t lose a heat for the rest of the day.
“Since the X Games I’ve started focusing on being at the bottom and getting through the finish line instead of worrying about other things, and it worked for me today.”
For Bonenfant the bronze medal was significant for several reasons. Not only was it the young rider’s first World Cup medal — he was sandwiched between Holland and Westcott — it also secured him a spot on the national team.
“I had a great day. I finally qualified to the World Cup team, and made it to the finals, so it paid off really well,” he said. “I put in some good work over the summer, both mentally and physically, to get to this point, and this third place result just makes me want to work even more.”
The last event of the weekend was the halfpipe, a discipline where Canadians have struggled this year as every World Cup but one has been cancelled due to poor weather or lack of snow. But while this event ran, the pipe was reported to be in rough shape with holes in the walls, uneven transitions, and patches of soft snow. Two Canadians were injured while trying to ride it.
For the men, the finals resulted in a Japanese sweep of the podium, with Ryoh Aono in first place, Kohhei Kudoh second, and Kazuhiro Kokubo third.
Whistler’s Dan Raymond was the best of the rest, placing fourth to lead the Canadian team. Crispin Lipscomb qualified for the second round, but finished 12 th .
While the results were decent, the uneven pipe took its toll on the athletes.
“The pipe there was hellish. The machine they used to shape it made it like travelling back in time to the 90’s,” said Raymond. “I had to resort to what worked there last year, just big and stylish. I wanted to do the backside 720 to switch backside 720 combo in my second run to try to get back in the top three but didn’t make it past the first hit.”
Lipscomb crashed hard on his first run, and Raymond on his second run, resulting in trips to the hospital for both riders — Raymond with a dislocated shoulder. They stayed with the team as it headed to Korea, mostly to follow the physiotherapists but also to cheer on Brad Martin — the only Canadian pipe rider who isn’t injured at this point.
As for the impact of all the cancelled events on the team, Raymond says it is having an effect. “I’d say that having less contests this year has slowed me down a little,” he said. “I normally do really well, get stoked, and keep stepping it up, or get my butt kicked, get a little angry and use that angst to step up. Less contests is not that good for me — they fire me up regardless of the result. I’m disappointed that the (Canadian Snowboard Federation) has chosen to skip certain events for the pipe team, given that competing often is what gets me going.”
What’s working well this year is training, especially with camps in Whistler.
“Every time I’ve been home it’ either snowed like mad or the park and pipe were in pristine condition,” said Raymond. “It’s been the perfect mix to make sure I’m having fun all the time on the hill. As far as the support goes, the physio team has been the best. Every time we crash it can take us out for a few days — or six weeks! — and having someone to work on us every day makes it possible to keep going.”
Japanese riders also took two out of three medals in the women’s contest, with Holly Crawford of Australia first, and Soko Yamaoka and Shiho Nakashima second and third.
Halfpipe and alpine athletes head to Sungwoo, Korea this weekend for the next World Cup, before the tour returns to North America in March for back-to-back events at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Lake Placid, New York and Stoneham, Quebec.
