Canadian Freeskiing Championships Results: FKNA wow
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MANUEL GAIDET & INGRID BACKSTROM WIN 7th ANNUAL TYLENOL CANADIAN FREESKIING
CHAMPIONSHIPS
Gaidet Defends His Title As Champion of the Canadian Freeskiing
Championships
Whistler, BC, CAN Manuel Manu Gaidet of Courchevel, France becomes the first man ever to defend Canadian Freeskiing Title in Diamond Bowlon Blackcomb Mountain today. Extraordinary skiing and a tight competition wasn’t enough to keep 2003 defending champion Manuel Gaidet off of the top of the podium today. Gaidet skied a fluid technical line nearly flawlessly scoring the top run score of the day of 43.6. Fellow countryman, Aurelein Ducroz, moved from 7th position to 3rd place with the second highest run score of today's competition. Yesterday's leader, Ian McIntosh of Panorama, Canada finished 2nd overall in the event.
In the women's competition, Ingrid Backstrom, of Squaw Valley, USA worked her way from her 5th place standing, after the first two runs, to win the event skiing a unique and dynamic, very exposed, line. Whistler local, Laura Ogden, moved up from 4th place to finish 2nd in the event, and Norwegian Ane Enderud finished in 3rd place. Yesterday’s leader Susan Medville of Crested Butte, USA slipped into to the 4th place position for the women.
The event this year had a great representation from around the world (8 countries were represented), and despite difficult weather conditions th event organizers and athletes worked together to make a 3 run contest for the women and a 2 run competition for the men, said Event Director and IFSA President David Swanwick. With the support of Tylenol, Dynastar and the other sponsors, Mountain Sports International and Whistler Blackcomb were able to execute another great freeskiing championship event.
RESULTS
MEN
NAME/HOME AREA/NATIONALITY/RUN 1/RUN 2/TOTAL
1. Manuel Gaidet Courchevel FRA 39.2 43.6 82.8
2. Ian McIntosh Panorama CAN 41.2 35.6 76.8
3. Aurelien Ducroz Chamonix FRA 35.2 41.2 76.4
4. Moss Patterson Whistler CAN 36.6 35.4 72
5. Jack Hannan Crested Butte USA 38.8 32.4 71.2
6. Elijah Lee Eagle Crest USA 36 34.2 70.2
7. Bill Whalley Tacoma USA 31.8 35.8 67.6
8. Rick Greener Snowbird/Alta USA 38 28.8 66.8
9. Fredrik Luytkis Oslo NOR 31.4 31.6 63
10. Mathieu Imbert Risoul FRA 29.4 33 62.4
WOMEN
NAME/HOME AREA/NATIONALITY/RUN 1/RUN 2/RUN 3/TOTAL
1 Ingrid Backstrom Squaw Valley USA 22.2 22.6 36.8 81.6
2 Laura Ogden Pemberton CAN 19.4 26.4 31.4 77.2
3 Ane Enderud Oslo NOR 22.8 29.6 23.6 76
4 Susan Medville Crested Butte USA 27.4 25.4 20.4 73.2
5 Lia Darquier Whistler ARG 21.4 30.8 16.8 69
The Tylenol Canadian Freeskiing Championships was the first stop on the
International Free Skiers Association (IFSA) World Tour. www.freeskiers.org The second stop is the Subaru US Freeskiing Championships February 2-6 in Snowbird, Utah, USA. The final event, The North Face Freeride will be held in Les Arcs, France March 1-5. The IFSA was founded in 1996 as the competitor organization of freeskiing events including Big Mountain, Slopestyle, Skiercross, Big Air and Pipe competition.
Freeskiing Sport & History Unlike ski racing, where a gated course is set up for the competitor, big mountain freeskiing allows a competitor to utilize all natural terrain features between the start house and a finish area. Competitor's runs may include skiing off of cliffs, down steep, expert terrain at speeds of up to 45 miles per hour. Freeskiing is a judged competition that requires 5 judges to evaluate the competitor on 5 categories: Line Choice, Control, Fluidity, Technique, and Aggression. There are 10 possible points in each category; an averaged total of 50 points possible per run.
For additional media information, credentials, interviews, and photos please contact: Publicist, Lhotse Merriam at methodpr@earthlink.net
or 760-500-4603 or visit
www.freeskiingworldtour.com
Additional coverage can be found at www.biglines.com
