SNOWBOARDING:

Riders Balharry, Voigt, Stone medal in Calgary World Cup slopestyle

Feb. 26, 2011 — Canada Snowboard

CALGARY, Alberta — Three out of the seven Canadian competitors reached the podium Saturday in the finals of the slopestyle competition at the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup in Calgary, with Canmore’s Robby Balharry and Brooke Voigt earning silver and Zach Stone bronze.
 
Balharry won the silver medal with a second run of 26.3 points, while Stone, of Collingwood, Ont., won the bronze medal with 25.6 points.

Three Canadians — Balharry, Stone and Tanner Davidson of Calgary — led the group after the first of two runs, though Austria’s Clemens Schattschneider crashed the party with a second run of 27.4 points to take over first position and give him the victory. Davidson finished the day in fifth place, Derek Livingston in seventh and Julien Beaulieu in 11th spot.

“Going into my last run I knew I was already in third and Zach was behind me, who is one of my best friends. So I just went for it and it happened,” remarked Balharry. “After the rails I did a frontside 7, backside 9 and a cab 10. It’s also so much better because my friends and family get to come out, so it’s a lot of fun.”

“I’m stoked to see my buddy up there,” said Stone of Balharry’s silver medal. “He deserved it, his run was sick.”

The competition is tight as Schattschneider took over the big-air/slopestyle World Cup standings lead from Canadian rider Sebastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Que., who did not compete in the contest in Calgary. With his third-spot finish worth 600 points, Stone jumped more than 10 spots in the standings to fifth, and Balharry gained 800 points to move 18 spots, up to seventh overall.

On the women’s side, Voigt of Fort McMurray, Alta., won a silver medal with a score of 18.3 points. With this second-place finish, Voigt repeats her result at last year’s World Cup in Calgary.

Slopestyle was introduced onto the World Cup circuit at last year’s event held at COP. This year’s event kicks off the first slopestyle competition of the season.

“I couldn’t be happier and I’m not stepping down by any means,” said Voigt of her repeat from last year. “Being at the same level or higher is what I’m going for and I’m really happy with that. I had some solid runs.”

Native Calgarian Breanna Stangeland finished in fourth place with 15.3 points, which was a tenth of a point short of third place, taken by Pia Meusburger of Austria. Allyson Carroll of the United States topped the group with a run of 21 points.

The slopestyle competition was presented by Garnier. Representatives were on the hill handing out samples to the crowd of fans.

Canada now has 16 medals on the FIS World Cup tour this season.

Thanks to all the volunteers and event staff that made this World Cup a success. Over 75 volunteers covered 180 shifts over the week. They battled the elements all week and did an excellent job building and maintaining the course and supporting the event on and off the snow.