The Whitewater free ride team is one of the most popular and established clubs in BC, they have some of the most qualified coaches and their athletes are versed and experienced in contest skiing. They have the home field advantage of skiing at their own resort and skiing on a venue they have all skied dozens of times. Our team had one day to inspect the courses ahead of time and then one run to inspect the venue the day of the event.
This provides their athletes with a huge leg up on our team and we still managed to deliver surprising results for such an inexperienced team. 5 out of 7 athletes competed in their first free ski competition at the whitewater event and to come in the top 5, top 10 and top 15 relatively is a huge result. Our team just registered as a member of the International Free skiers and Snowboarders Association because we were not a competition team until this season.
Points are assigned based on the difficulty of the line as well as airs, tricks, flow and consistent speed through the venue. Linking airs refers to having minimal time between jumps and these individuals excelled.
Sydney Musseau: 2nd Girls 12-14
Lutza Berkenbosch: 5th Girls 7-11
Emmerson Lussier : 11th Boys 12-14
Ryland Grimm: 9th Boys 15-18
Sydney Musseau has entered 2 free ride contests and placed 2nd in both and is eager for her first free ski contest win this season!
Lutza Berkenbosch had an fantastic line going and had a small crash to keep her off the podium.
Emmerson Lussier made a huge gain on his second day of the contest with his Day 2 run with tons of linked airs moving him up 4 positions. If the contest were judged on their Day 2 run alone he would have moved up to 8th. On top of that he was given special recognition from the judging team for an excellent line choice on his Day 1 run; an amazing first contest for Emmerson!
