Kaya Turski
KILLINGTON, VERMONT (January 22, 2012) – Kaya Turski bounced back from a fall in the first heat with a stellar second run to convincingly win the Dew Tour Women’s Ski Slopestyle event here today on a six feature – three rail, three jump — course.
On her first run in the best-of-two run final, Turski lost a ski after coming up a little short on the last kicker. However, the Montreal-native came back large, scoring 92.25 on her second run and making the rail section of the course look effortless.
In signature fashion, Turski jumped higher and more consistently than the competition. Canadian Team Head Coach Toben Sutherland said that it’s Turski’s competitive rollerblading background that allows her to find her center and maintain it from take off to landing, even through her difficult ‘cab 7’ (a backwards 720), off the last jump.
“I just tried to keep it calm after I had a mistake on my first run. At the top I was thinking that I had to keep my speed right and think it through feature by feature; and not dwell on the first run.”
Turski, who skied with an “Believe in Sarah forever” sticker on her ski, said she feels like her friend Sarah Burke will be with her for the rest of her ski career. “I know she would have wanted me to compete and do my best, so I went and did what I could today. I’m just thinking about her family and wishing the best for them.”
Americans Devin Logan and Emilia Wint took the silver and bronze medals, with respective scores of 92.25 and 90.50.
Youngster Dara Howell, from Huntsville, Ont. finished the day in sixth spot.
JF Houle airborn over Killington
On the men’s side, five Canadians made it to the 14-man final, but none of them earned a spot in the top-three. That belonged to the Americans who swept the podium.
Tom Wallisch was first at 95.25, Bobby Brown was second at 93.00 and Nick Goepper took the bronze at 91.25.
Drummondville, Quebec’s JF Houle was the top Canadian in eighth, with a score of 84.00. After being sidelined for a while with a couple of injuries, Houle was pleased with his performance here.
“My day was awesome. I’m super stoked and super happy. I wasn’t super ready because I have had a couple of injuries so I haven’t trained that much. It’s boosting my confidence so much going in to X Games next week, I just have to work on my right dub (double) 1080 and I can podium there,” he said.
He was also happy that he nailed his signature trick, a ‘nose butter 270’ off the down rail.
Other Canadian men in the finals were Alex Beaulieu-Marchand from Quebec City, Que. who was ninth at 83.5; Alexi Godbout from Mont-Tremblant, Que. in 11th at 80.5; Alex Bellemare from St. Bonifance, Que. in 13th at 68.5; and Philip Casabon from Victoriaville, Que., in 14th at 60.25.
Sutherland was extremely happy with his team’s performance this weekend. “It was great, Kaya won for the women and we had a third of the field in finals for men, which proves we’ve definitely got some depth and a lot of young talent. We’ve got the tools in place to bring it all together. Everyone skied so well here, we made a few mistakes, but I just put that down to lack of experience in big competition settings like this.”
The Canadian Halfpipe and Slopestyle Teams head to X Games next week in Aspen, CO.
The Mogul and Aerial Teams go to Calgary for the Canada Post Grand Prix competition. More information about this event, including media accreditation, is available at: http://freestyleski.com/wp/worldcup/canada-olympic-park/.
For more information, or to schedule athlete interviews, contact CFSA Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin at: kelleykorbin@freestyleski.com.
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WINTER DEW TOUR – PANTECH INVITATIONAL SEASON 2012 SKI SLOPESTYLE WOMEN FINALS
1 Kaya Turski , Montreal, Que., 92.25
2 Devin Logan, USA, 90.50
3 Emilia Wint, USA, 85.00
4 Eveline Bhend, SUI, 80.00
5 Emma Dahlström, SWE, 41.25
6 Dara Howell, Huntsville, Ont., 36.50
WINTER DEW TOUR – PANTECH INVITATIONAL SEASON 2012 SKI SLOPESTYLE MENS FINALS
1 Tom Wallisch, USA, 95.25
2 Bobby Brown, USA, 93.00
3 Nick Goepper, USA, 91.25
4 Sammy Carlson, USA, 90.25
5 Henrik Harlaut SWE, 88.75
6 Andreas Håtveit, NOR, 87.25
7 Russ Henshaw, AUS, 85.50
8 Jf Houle,, Drummondville, Que. 84.00
9 Alex Beaulieu-Marchand Quebec City, Que., 83.50
10 Chris Logan, USA, 80.75
11 Alexis Godbout, Mont Tremblant, Que., 80.50
12 Dane Tudor, USA, 72.00
13 Alex Bellemare St. Boniface, Que., 68.50
14 Philip Casabon , Grand-Mere, Que., 60.25
For more information or to arrange for interviews contact CFSA Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin.
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About the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association
The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association is the governing body in Canada for the sport of Freestyle Skiing. Our mission is to develop, in a safe, fun and ethical manner, Olympic and World Champions in all disciplines of the sport of Freestyle Skiing