FREESTYLE:

Canadian freestylers amped for Lake Placid and Austria events

Jan. 20, 2011 — CFSA

On the heels of a four-medal weekend at Ski Mont Gabriel in Quebec, the Canadian freestyle moguls and aerials reams are in Lake Placid, N.Y., training for this weekend’s FIS World Cup.

This is an important event for athletes who are vying for spots at the upcoming FIS World Championships in Utah in February. Moguls and aerials team members use their four best results from this season and last to try to earn one of the coveted spots. The team is allocated four spots per gender, per discipline, at worlds.

In a team as deep and talented as the Canadian mogul team — where eight women and seven men qualified for the 16-person finals at last weekend’s dual mogul event — the competition is fierce for those limited spots.

On the aerials side, the Canadian team has set threshold scores that athletes must attain to qualify. The Placid event is another chance for younger team members, like Newmarket Ontario’s Crystal Lee and Saint-Laurent, Quebec’s Jean-Christophe Andre, to reach those thresholds and net a ticket to Deer Valley.

The Lake Placid event consists of an aerials event on Friday and two single moguls events on Saturday and Sunday. Moguls skier Kristi Richards, who has competed at Lake Placid seven times, said athletes have to be prepared for shifting conditions at that venue. “We have to expect all kinds of weather here in Lake Placid. Some years we have seen rain one day and minus-20 temperatures the next. Preparation and adaptability are key here.”

On the other side of the world, Canadian halfpipe athletes will be putting their tricks to the test at an FIS World Cup in Krieschberg, Austria. This is the first stop of the FIS World Cup halfpipe tour this season and will be an important test for those athletes who are hoping their sport will get the Olympic nod for Sochi from IOC officials later this year.  S-Magazine