FREESTYLE:

Freestylers ready to rock at Gabriel dual moguls and aerials

Jan. 13, 2011 — CFSA 

The high-flying Canadian Freestyle Ski Team will be out in full force in the belle province Saturday and Sunday at the Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix event at Ski Mont Gabriel, presented by Ernst & Young.

This FIS World Cup marks the first time the Canadian team and its international counterparts will compete in North America since the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

Olympic champion and dual moguls world champion Alex Bilodeau, the first Canadian to win Olympic gold on home soil, will be joined by his teammates at Ski Mont Gabriel’s dual moguls event. For the past six years, the Ski Mont Gabriel moguls event has been a single moguls format. This year, however, in preparation for February’s FIS World Championships, which has both a single and dual moguls event, organizers decided to host the exciting head-to-head format.

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge said, “Dual moguls are particularly well-suited to the Gabriel course, which isn’t as steep as some of the others on the circuit. I expect that we will see some really great action because the athletes tend to ski a little faster and jump a little higher in duals.”

The Canadian aerials team, lead by veteran Warren Shouldice of Calgary, will take to the sky with  incredible acrobatic maneuvers at Mont Gabriel. The team had incredible success at Gabriel in last week’s NorAms on the same venue.

On Jan. 10, New Market, Ontario’s Crystal Lee took home the aerials bronze medal, and a personal-best score, at the second of two Nor-Ams. A day earlier, the men roared to the top four spots, with Shouldice winning, followed by Jean-Christophe André, Travis Gerrits and Rémi Bélanger.

The Canadian freestyle team has had a phenomenal start to the season, with nine medals and 24 top-10 finishes in five FIS World Cup events so far, including respective gold and silver medals from Quebec teenagers Mikael Kingsbury and Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who will both be competing at Gabriel.

Event title sponsor spokesperson Louis O’Brien, chief customer officer at Canada Post, said, “We are proud to support our Canadian athletes after the amazing showing at last year’s Olympic Games in Vancouver. As Canada’s leading communications and logistics company, we’re thrilled to welcome world-class athletes once again to Canadian soil.”

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association officials said they expect record crowds for the free event, which takes place on Jan. 15 (dual moguls) and Jan. 16 (aerials). Click here for a full event schedule.  S-Magazine