Freestyle Skiing 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,825]

Thompson and Chapuis extend Cross Alps Tour leads with wins in Montafon

 

The fourth phase of the 2016 Audi FIS Ski Cross Cross Alps Tour went down in thrilling fashion on Saturday in Montafon (AUT), with Cross Alps Tour leaders Marielle Thompson (CAN) and Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA) claiming victories in the heated competition and extending their leads upon the ski cross World Cup field. 

 

Things started on a sour note in Montafon, with Friday’s top qualifier Chris Delbosco (CAN) getting tangled up with Brant Crossan (USA) coming out of the final banked corner of the course in the first heat of the day and crashing heavily. Though Delbosco would require emergency transfer off the course, early reports suggest his injuries are not severe. 

 

Once competition got back on track, the big, flowing Montafon course allowed the athletes of the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup to put on full display what makes the tour so compelling. With tight head-to-head racing, a multitude of passes, and several photo finishes, the action was packed from start to finish. 

 

Thompson found herself lined up alongside Marielle Berger Sabbatel (FRA), Heidi Zacher (GER), and Daniella Maier (GER) in the ladies’ big final, and all three of those ladies had impressed with some strong skiing on their way to the finale, with Maeir in particular putting on a one-woman show on the day, executing an inside pass on Ophelie David (FRA) and Georgia Simmerling (CAN) in her semifinal heat that is an early candidate for pass of the year. 

 

Unfortunately, when she would attempt a similar move in the final she would lose control and spin out, sending Thompson, Berger Sabbatel, and Zacher away to sort the podium rankings out between the three of them. And, while both ladies would challenge Thompson’s lead, the rangy Canadian would be able to hold them off for her second win of the season and a repeat performance of her win in Montafon a season before. 

 

Men’s competition was fierce right from the first heat, with Brady Leman and Alex Fiva, ranked second and third overall so far this season, respectively, both eliminated in the eight finals, along with several other big names. 

 

In the end it would come down to Chapuis, his French teammate Jonas Devouassoux, Marc Bischofberger (SUI), and Kevin Drury (CAN).

Drury, making the second big finals appearance of his young career, actually beat Chapuis in the semifinals, and looked like he might have the best chance of taking down the reigning Olympic champion and World Cup overall winner. 

 

 

However, after such a thrilling semifinal performance, Drury’s day would end in frustration after falling midway through the course while on the heels of Chapuis. Drury’s fall forced Devouassoux and Bischofberger to take evasive action, spreading the skiers out and giving Chapuis an easy win after what had been an exceptionally tough competition up until that point.

 

Devouassoux would complete a three-podium day for the French team by taking second place, while Bischofberger, with his boisterous fan club in the stands at the finish, took third place and the second podium of his career. 

 

With just two events to go in the Cross Alps tour, Thompson and Chapuis have both built points leads that will be tough to chase down for their closest competitors, with Thompson’s 345 points a 110 point advantage over Anna Holmlund’s 235, and Chapuis’ 289 points putting him 97 clear of Brady Leman’s 192.

 

Those final two competitions of the Tour will take place in Innichen/San Candido, Italy, the longest-running stop on the ski cross tour and one of the more interesting challenges on the World Cup. 

 

Competition in Innichen gets underway with qualifications on Tuesday, December 20th, followed by competitions on Wednesday and Thursday, with the startlist for the Tour finale on Thursday being decided by the Cross Alps tour rankings after Wednesday’s race. 

 

There, after 14 days of hard competition spread out along a 1000km trail across the Alps, the first ever Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup Cross Alps Tour champions will be crowned. 

 

 

Full Results Women and Men

[hckošice 14,825]

Martinod and Rolland on top at Copper's halfpipe World Cup

 

French duo of Marie Martinod and Kevin Rolland have claimed big wins in the 2016/17 season's first halpipe World Cup event staged at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix tour stop in Copper Mountain, CO.

 

In the ladies' competition Marie Martinod finished on top of the pack with the day's high score of 88.60 points. Martinod's winning run included her trademark back-to-back flairs followed by an impressive 900 on her last hit. The 33 years old skier from France looked very confident and strong as she skied for the victory and 100 precious points in the World Cup ranking.

 

"I tried to execute my run the best I could, going as high as possible and holding my grabs all the way through" Martinod explained, "The conditions were pretty difficult today, but the shapers did an amazing job clearing the pipe after the snowfall. The summer training paid off and I was able to land my tricks. Now the pressure is off and I'm super excited.”

 

Representing the host nation, the USA's Annalisa Drew finished the day just behind Martinod with a score of 85.80. While Drew struggled in her first two runs, she was able to collect herself and put it together to stomp back-to-back 900s as well as the left-side 1080 to finish of her third and final run.

 

“I just went up top and talked to my coaches to discuss what I needed to do better,” Drew said. “I kept my spirits up and just put it down, which I’m excited about.”

 

Third place went to the last year's FIS Freestyle overall World Cup winner Devin Logan (USA) as she threw down a nice combination of right-side and left-side spins to earn her 83.20 points and a spot on the podium.

 

On the men's side it was a close battle between the French riders Ben Valentin and Kevin Rolland. While Valentin started Saturday's competition strong, taking an early lead with 92.40 points, at the end of the day it was his teammate who stepped it up in his final run and boosted his score up to 94.20 points. Rolland went huge and stomped an amazing run which included switch left dub 1080 safety, right dub 1260 mute, left dub 1260 mute and right 900 tail.

 

"I'm really stoked," said satisfied Rolland "I didn't go super high on the first run, keeping it rather safe. Then I crashed on my second run so all the pressure was on my last run and I went as huge as I could and it worked our pretty good so I'm very happy now."

 

With one more chance to come back on top of the ranking, Valentin went all in but couldn't quite stick the run, finally finishing the event in the runner-up position. His second place run was nevertheless pretty impressive, as he locked in switch left 1080 tail, alley oop left flair 540 japan, left 900 tail, right dub 1260 safety and left dub 1260 tail.

 

"I feel good, the second place is always good," Valentin said, "I wish I could do better than Kevin, but again he was unstoppable. He can always put down a really good last run and so he did today. Now I have to work hard and try to beat him next time".

 

Aaron Blunck (USA) rounded up the men's podium with 87.00 points for his final run consisting of right 720 tail, switch left double 900 safety, switch right 720 tail, left 900 tail and right double 1260 tail.

 

The Halfpipe World Cup is now taking a holiday break and comes back with the next competition in Mammoth on February, 1-2, 2017.

 

 

 

 

Full Results Women and Men

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,825]

Russia tops the podium in aerials team event at Beida Lake

 

The first - and only - aerials team event of the season closed out the 2016/17 aerials World Cup season-opening weekend in Beida Lake (CHN) on Sunday, with the young Russian squad of Liubov Nikitina, Maxim Burov, and Alexandra Orlova - just 17, 18, and 19 years old, respectively - besting all comers in the combined-score competition.

 

Russia limped into the finals in fifth place, with the strong Chinese team (featuring Saturday's ladies' competition winner Xu Mengtao and Sunday's top men's qualifier Qi Guangpu) leading the way, followed by teams Australia, USA, and Belarus (featuring Saturday's men's winner Anton Kushnir), with Canada and Kazakstan rounding out the seven-team final round one.

 

In the first final round, however, things got largely flipped upside-down, with Russia moving into the three-team second final in top spot before repeating that performance once again there, with Orlova back full, full, Nikitina's back double full, full, and Burov's back full, double full, full, earning them a combined score of 255.81 and a decisive victory over the second place Canadians and third place Australians.

 

"We've tried our best today," Burov commented on Russia's win in the team event, "There is a good chemistry in our team and we can rely on each other. Everyone was very focused today and we've manged to take the first place what of course feels amazing. We're very happy."

 

"I think we've got us to this position with years of hard work," said Canadians Travis Gerrits on his team's second place result, "Water ramping this summer is just one of the example how we prepare for the season. Determination and pushing through little injuries resulted in podium spot today. It's a very satisfying feeling."

 

As is protocol with any aerials team event, the qualification seeding round held earlier in the morning was where the World Cup points for the evening would come from, essentially creating the atmosphere of a double-header competition day as athletes strove not just to improve their team's standing, but also to battle for their place on the World Cup leaderboard. 

 

This meant that in ladies' competition, top qualifier Danielle Scott (AUS) would take 100 points away from the competition, with her double full, full in qualification earning her a score of 93.76 to best Xu's score of 92.35 earned for performing the same jump. Third in qualifications went to Scott's teammate Samantha Wells. 

 

After Saturday's second-place performance, Sunday's qualification win moved Scott up into a lead with Xu atop the ladies aerials Word Cup leaderboard. "I'm extremely happy today," Scott said after her performance, "Going into the New Year wearing the yellow bib and sharing it with Mengtao feels very good."

 

On the men's side, Qi was able to improve upon his second-place result in Saturday's World Cup and lock down top spot on Sunday, landing a massive double full, full, full that earned him a score of 122.17 and a nearly 10-point advantage over his teammate Liu Zhongqin. Maxim Gustik of Belarus and Xindi Wang from China, in a rare tie, would round out the men's top three.   

 

Qi was able to take the lead in the aerials World Cup standing an his performance, along with that of his teammates like Xu and Liu, has helped make an early argument that the Chinese team is back and ready to dominate in 2016/17 after two below-par season on the aerials World Cup. 

 

 

Full Results Women and Men and Mixed Team Event

 

 

[hckošice 14,825]

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-olympics-holmlund-idUKKBN1482ET

[intoronto 5,639]

4 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-olympics-holmlund-idUKKBN1482ET

 

omg! Prayers for a full recovery.

[heywoodu 15,141]

5 hours ago, hckosice said:

 

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-olympics-holmlund-idUKKBN1482ET

Jesus. I never look at skicross qualifying results, apart from an hour ago or something...I was thinking "cool, young Näslund in 2nd, but no Holmlund?! I guess she skipped this World Cup or something".. 

[Agger 1,662]

Victor Öhling Norberg isn't sure to compete tomorrow as he has been by Holmlund's side.

[Agger 1,662]

Sandra Näslund also crashed while preparing for today's World Cup competition. Luckily she "only" injured her elbow.

[heywoodu 15,141]

Apparently Holmlund's injuries are worse than expected and they found new 'injuries' in her head after a new scan..this ain't looking good. 

[Swewi 382]

Holmlund/Näslund crashed into each other in two different races in one week and just a few days later this happens to Anna and then Sandra ends up on the hospital as well..