Although experience always counts for something in pro sports, in the world of competitive freeskiing its often the athletes that risk the most that finish on top.
With injuries sidelining at least three of the top names in the sport this year, the World Skiing Invitational titles and $50,000 in cash were anybodys to win as long as you risked enough.
This year the mens events were dominated by skiers out of Vernon, B.C. mostly graduates of Silver Stars exceptional freestyle club, and if the performance of 16-year-old Justin Dorey is any indication then that well of talent is far from running dry.
WSI Slopestyle
Vernons T.J. Schiller is just 18 years old, but has already established himself as one of the top freeskiers in the world. He takes off and lands switch with ease, goes big, and can pull off some of the toughest tricks in the book. He has a lot of style, and somehow always leaves you with the impression that hes still holding something back.
From the start of the contest, Schiller established himself as the skier to beat in the WSI slopestyle. After leading the field in the finals, Schiller went on to post the best result in the superfinal as an afternoon storm continued to pile snow on the course, putting down cab 7s, huge corked 9s and more. Schiller has a switch 1080 in his bag of tricks, but didnt get a chance to break it out over the big tables.
Because of the changing conditions and the difficulty in keeping speed, all of the athletes scrubbed at least one landing in the one-run superfinal, but Schiller still managed to beat his closest competitor, Peter Olenick, by 99 points. John Spriggs, a newcomer to the sport, was third.
Riley Leboe, who advanced from the qualifier the day before to make the finals, was fourth, followed by Sammy Carlson.
In the womens event, favourite Sarah Burke dropped out after aggravating a heel injury, leaving the field wide open for Marie Martinod of France. Martinod took the womens title by more than 50 points over Denise Jaworsky and Heather La Hart.
When the competition had wrapped up, John Spriggs let it all hang out in the athlete-judged Big Hit quarterpipe contest to win a trip for two to Mexico. Spriggs, who hails from Vail, was getting about five more feet out of the quarterpipe than everyone else.
Results:
Mens Slopestyle Superfinals
1. TJ Schiller 466 points
2. Peter Olenick 367
3. John Spriggs 335
4. Riley Leboe 286
5. Sammy Carlson 146
Mens Finals
6. Corey Vanular 433
7. Justin Dorey 427
8. Stefan Thomas 422
9. Derek Spong 412
10. Mike Riddle 408
Womens Final
1. Marie Martinod 307
2. Denise Jaworsky 266
3. Heather La Hart 185
4. Ashley Battersby 174
Big Hit: John Spriggs
WSI Superpipe
After two days of snow, the air cleared literally moments before the start of the WSI Superpipe. The wind gusted hard enough to blow over the inflatable amplitude marker, but clear skies and periods of sunshine gave competitors a shot of confidence in the pipe.
The women started the day by showing just how far theyve come in the last few years. Four of the girls were landing 720s, landing backwards in the pipe, and everybody had alley-oop 540s and big straight airs with grabs.
After pulling out of the slopestyle two days earlier after aggravating a heel injury, Midland, Ontarios Sarah Burke started the day slowly. Jamie Sundberg started off the jam with the top score, a 69.7, but was unseated in the next round by Ashley Sabas 74.7. Ashley had the high run until the fifth round when Marie Martinod of France took over with a 79.0.
With the minutes counting down in the hour-long contest, the athletes tried to unseat Martinod.
Burke went last, landing two huge 540s and a near perfect 720 on her last run to earn a score of 80.0. Afterwards, her heel in intense pain, she walked off for a while before rejoining the group at the bottom of the pipe to celebrate her win.
"That was hard," she said. "Im pretty happy to pull this one out, I was in pretty rough shape. I havent even really skied the halfpipe this year until today so it took a few runs to warm up, and I wasnt really skiing as aggressively as I wanted to. Im really psyched to win today."
Burke won the first gold medal ever presented for womens halfpipe at the FIS Freestyle World Championships in March, the last time she rode in the discipline. There is some talk that it will be included in future Winter Olympics, possibly in 2010.
"That definitely motivates me. Its five years away, which is a long time in skiing when youre doing what were doing, but Im definitely keeping it in mind. The Olympics would be something amazing to be a part of," said Burke. "Even the world championships were pretty cool, definitely a different experience than what were used to."
Burke added that she was impressed by the level of competitiveness among women, and that it would become harder and harder to win contests. "It used to be you could go out and win with a big 540, but now a lot of the girls are landing 720s and working on bringing 900s and flat spins and more difficult tricks into contests. Its come a long way in a short while, and its a lot harder to be on the podium, but Ive been having a blast. Its definitely good for the sport," she said.
In the mens competition, 16-year-old Justin Dorey of Vernon came out strong in the first run with a series that include a 540 alley-oop flatspin, an alley oop straight air, a true tail 900, and an alley-oop flatspin 720 to earn a score of 80.7. He scrubbed his next two runs, and missed the second half of the day after a crash, but nobody beat that first run score.
"This was the biggest thing ever," he said. "After I put down that first run, I definitely wasnt expecting to get even in the top five or anything. I though for sure somebody was going to beat me, I couldnt believe that it held up as long as it did.
"The pipe was awesome. I did this event last year and the pipe was the best Id ever skied, and it was just as good this year."
Dorey said the conditions gave him confidence.
"You can get away with more, go a little bigger, hit the walls with more speed, hold your grabs longer, everything. Theres just so many good skiers here, to win is just incredible," he said.
Second place went to Andreas Hatveit of Norway. He started his runs switch, added some big, technical tricks in the middle section, and finished with a switch 720 at the bottom. All of Hatveits runs were solid, but it was his third run that put him in second with a score of 78.3.
Peter Olenick also jumped onto the podium with a strong third run, getting inverted on both walls and starting and finishing big. He ended the day with a 75.3.
Once the contest was over the athletes tried to outdo one another in the athlete-judged SuperHit contest. TJ Schiller and Stefan Thomas probably had the lead early with their switch alley-oop 720s and 900s but then Hatveit started to land his huge switch corked 720s at the bottom of the pipe almost at will.
"I was the only guy doing that trick. I practice it a lot so after a few tries I knew I could get it every time," said Hatveit. "Im just so happy to win, and to get the most votes. The pipe was really nice, and I had a lot of fun. It was a really good day for me. I will definitely be back next year I love Whistler."
Mens Results
1. Justin Dorey 80.7
2. Andreas Hatveit 78.3
3. Peter Olenick 75.3
4. Andrew Woods 74.0
5. Corey Vanular 74.0
6. Matt Hayward 73.7
7. Mike Henitiuk 73.3
8. Colby West 72.0
9. TJ Schiller 70.3
10. John Spriggs 69.3
Womens Results
1. Sarah Burke 80.0
2. Marie Martinod 79.0
3. Ashley Saba 75.3
4. Jessica Cumming 71.7
5. Jamie Sundberg 69.7
6. Heather La Hart 62.3
7. Virginie Faivre 62.0
8. Roz Groenwoud 59.7
9. Kate Allan 42.7