The mogul, aerial, slopestyle and halfpipe national teams won a total of 42 FIS World Cup medals and 13 podiums at Association of Freesking Professionals platinum events in 2012. The CFSA plans to build on that success in the lead up to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games with a team comprised of a powerhouse mix of veteran and rookie athletes.

“ ‘Youth, depth and exceptional talent’ is how I’d characterize next season’s roster. We have legitimate podium potential in every discipline,” said High Performance Program Director David Mirota, who attributed the team’s success to the program’s deep roots.

“What we’re seeing is the result of an incredibly strong history of freestyle skiing in Canada, where great athletes come back as great coaches and keep the evolution going, it’s a cycling effect.”

In its 2015 strategic plan, the CFSA has set a goal of winning six Olympic medals in Sochi from amongst the 55 athletes named to the team today. The selection process for those Games begins in the 2013 competitive season.

The majority of the athletes on the team, like Alex Bilodeau, who won Canada’s first gold medal on home soil at the 2010 Games, are returning veterans, but there are a host of young up-and-comers who will join their more experienced peers in a bid to represent Canada in Sochi.

Some to watch include 16-year-old Andi Naude of Okanagan Falls B.C. who took this year’s NorAm mogul grand prix; and, 19-year-old Alex Bellemare from St. Boniface Que., who earned a silver medal at the US Grand Prix World Cup event in Mammoth this season in slopestyle.

Ski slopestyle along with ski halfpipe are two of the latest additions to the Olympic program and they will make their debuts in Sochi.

“Slopestyle is where we’re seeing the most new faces emerge right now,” said Mirota. “Next year’s slopestyle team is a veritable teen invasion, with more than half of them under 20. It’s really exciting to see so much young talent coming up and great that they will be able to mix with more experienced and successful athletes like Kaya Turski and JF Houle,” he added.

Canadian Slopestyle coach JF Cusson agreed and added, “Every year this sport evolves so much, the younger generation has less fear and less injuries so they’re able to adapt and change their style fast to follow the progression.”

Mirota expressed his appreciation to Sport Canada and the Own the Podium program for its significant support.

Canadian National Freestyle Ski Team

2012 – 2013

Moguls

Q

Halfpipe

Slopestyle

Aerials

The 25-year-old National Halfpipe Team member from Sherwood Park, Alta. earned a best-of-two run top score of 92.6 to best Thomas Krief of France, who scored 87.0 and Joss Christensen of the US who was third at 85.6.

AFP 2012 halfpipe points leader Torin Yater-Wallace of the US was fourth with 85.2.

Wiping tears of joy from his face, Riddle credited a new pair of skis and a home field advantage with his turn in fortune. “I’ve had a rough season so to finally put down a good run feels so good.

“I didn’t have any major results this year, and I was really struggling mentally. I think its been a tough year for the whole ski community with losing Sarah, so I’m just happy to end the season on a good note and look forward to the next one,” said Riddle referring to the death of teammate Sarah Burke earlier in the season.

Riddle, who lives in Vancouver and trains at Blackcomb primarily, felt his main competition in the pipe today was teammate Justin Dorey, “I knew if Dorey put it together he could have beaten me,” he said.

Dorey, who hails from Vernon, qualified first this morning in the elimination round, but fell on both his final round runs and ended the day in 12th.

Riddle said he would have been happy to share the podium with Dorey, or any of his Canadian teammates, adding that the challenges of the season has brought them closer than ever. “The camaraderie within the team is probably the strongest it’s ever been. We’re a tight-knit group and we love travelling together and skiing together.”

Other Canadians in finals included Hunter Visser of Penticton who was eighth at 72.2 Canadian Freestyle Rookie of the Year Noah Bowman of Calgary who finished 10th at 68.2; Matt Margetts of Penticton who was 11th at 62.6.

Rosalind Groenewoud

On the women’s side, Rosalind Groenewoud capped of her amazing double-X Game gold season with a bronze medal here, and the 2012 AFP women’s halfpipe crown.

Maggie Bowman of the US took the gold at 93.2, Anais Caradeux of France was second at 85.0. Groenewoud scored 83.6.

Groenewoud said she struggled with the warm conditions today. “It’s crazy slushy, the pipe was falling apart in the afternoon despite the event team’s best efforts to keep it together. As a result, I definitely didn’t get my highest hits.”

Nevertheless, after falling on her first run, Groenewoud said, “I was definitely happy to land my second run, it wasn’t the run I was going for I messed up and had to ‘freestyle it’ pull it out and make up a whole different run. So I was a little disappointed not to compete the run I’ve been training and that I felt really confident with. But, I am happy to win the overall AFP title for pipe. I’ve had a really good season.”

Other Canadian women in the final were Megan Gunning of Calgary who was fifth at 66.8 and Dara Howell of Huntsville, Ont. who was seventh at 62.4.

Riddle and Groenewoud’s medals made a total of four for Canada at the 2012 WSI, adding to those of  Victoriaville, Que.’s Vincent Gagnier’s second place in last night’s big air competition and Pemberton’s Yuki Tsubota bronze in women’s slopestyle on Friday.

WORLD SKIING INVITATIONAL

APRIL 22, 2012 – BLACKCOMB MOUNTAIN, WHISTLER, B.C.

Complete Results:

http://www.wssf.com/event/world-skiing-invitational-afp-world-championship

MEN

WOMEN

JASPER, ALBERTA (APRIL 20, 2012) – Fifty five aspiring female mogul skiers from across the country will descend on the slopes of Marmot Basin this weekend for the seventh annual Jenn Heil Girls Camp.

Heil, who grew up in Spruce Grove, Alta, came up with the idea for the camp in 2006, after she won gold at the Torino Olympic Games. “Realizing what a difference it made to my success, to know people who had accomplished their goals, goals that I had been dreaming of since I was a child, made me want to offer that experience to young girls,” explained Heil.

The camp, which is free to participants, includes two days of on-snow training as well as lots of fun, and motivating, après activities like yoga, and mental training. Heil explained, “The whole idea is to provide a supportive and fun atmosphere for the girls to be confident and to push their personal limits. The weekend culminates in a fun team competition.”

Joining the Olympic and World Champion on the coaching roster is National Mogul Team member Chloé Dufour-Lapointe and former National Team coaches Dominic Gauthier and Murray Cluff. Even more exciting for Heil, is the addition of a couple of coaches who were former campers. Megan Bilton and Elyse David were part of the first Jenn Heil girls camp and this weekend they’ll be sharing their tips with the younger girls. “It’s really neat to see it come full circle,” said Heil. “It’s so important to keep female skiers involved as coaches.”

Also exciting for Heil is the fact that Dufour-Lapointe and her two sisters, Maxime and Justine, were so inspired by the camp that they developed their own camp for girls in Quebec, which they ran two weeks ago, and where Heil was a guest coach.

Heil wishes to thank the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association for its support; and Oakley and Lululemon for the fabulous prizes.

Sleivert, 48, passed away suddenly on April 2, 2012 in Montreal.

As a high performance advisor to the Canadian sport system, Sleivert was an invaluable contributor to the success of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team, including its 2010 Winter Games medals.

CFSA Strength and Conditioning Coach Adrian King worked closely with Slievert. “It’s an enormous loss for our sport science program. Gord was a mentor to me professionally and personally. He was the whole package: an excellent physiologist who helped our team immensely with determining training directions, and also such a great personality. He was always positive, uplifting and funny. Everyone – staff and athletes – felt comfortable to go to him for advice.

Peter Judge, CFSA CEO, added, “We send our deepest condolences to Gord’s family. He was a huge contributor to the Canadian sport system and a multitude of sports in Canada. He will be deeply missed.”

The memorial service will be broadcast live online at 1:30 p.m. PST today at www.cscpacific.ca.

Sleivert leaves his wife Kari and three children. If you would like to share a message with the family you can do so at: http://www.cscpacific.ca/content/About/OurTeam/ServiceandCondolenses.asp.

To donate to the trust set up for the Sleivert family, visit any TD bank and make a deposit by indicating the branch #9911 and account #6052008. Alternatively, you can mail a cheque payable to Kari Sleivert - c/o CSC Pacific (attn: Kate McNeil), 4371 Interurban Road,
Victoria, BC, V9E 2C5

Skydiving.

Rousseau, 32, announced last week that he is retiring from the National Team and moving on to a career in the clouds.

“My first sky dive was in 1998; at that time it was just a hobby in the off season. Skydiving was always the thing that could get me out of my small depression after the end of the competitive season. Then in 2007 I started BASE jumping which only added to my passion,” said Rousseau.

He said he had explored numerous other post-competition vocations, but none were enticing enough to draw him away from the slopes, until now.

“Jean-Luc Brassard once told me ‘the day that you’re going to be finished, you’re going to know. The day it’s over, it’s over.’ I never felt that day before. But this year, just before the dual event at Deer Valley (in February) I got to the top and I felt it. I said to myself, ‘wow, that’s it, I’m not skiing any more,’ and I felt it so strongly partly because my passion for my other project grew bigger in me than what I have for skiing. I just knew. I skied down to my coach (Rob Kober) I told him it’s over. He was very surprised, but then he saw that I was serious and told me it had been a pleasure and an honor to be with me for those years and that he respected my judgment.

“Now my life will revolve around professional skydiving and BASE jumping and teaching. I’m so lucky and so grateful because so few athletes who retire have something that can drive them with more passion than their sport.”

The Drummondville, Que. native leaves an impressive ski legacy, not just in his medal tally, but also in his ability to endure and prevail and to perform at a phenomenal level right up to the end of his career.

Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge, was Rousseau’s coach at one time, said, “When he was on, he was on. What has defined (Rousseau) is his remarkable feel and touch for the snow which has made him an unbelievable skier. He moves the ski on all dimensions to the extent that he actually becomes part of the terrain. It’s very, very rare to have that ability … the quality of his skiing was so high that nobody, or very few people, could hold a candle to him. To make something so difficult look so easy at such an incredibly high speed, that’s talent.”

One of Rousseau’s other legacies is his ability to endure. In 2002 he broke his back a month before he was set to compete in the Salt Lake Games. Then, a quadrennial later he failed to qualify for the 2006 Torino Games after a couple of seasons of poor performances. But a year later he surprised everyone by coming back to win the 2007 World Championships. “It came at a moment when everyone thought I was finished,” said Rousseau of the career highlight, “but I proved to myself that I could do it.”

That winning attitude brought him all the way to the Vancouver Games where he vanquished his Olympic demons and finished in fifth after one of the best runs of his career – a run that Judge said arguably could have put him in the medals.

“In the long run I am leaving with a lot of success,” boasted Rousseau who is proud of the fact that he has never had knee surgery.  “Managing my body and my health was my job.  I just preserved my machine to make sure I was successful and happy.  Now I get out of this healthy, I’m blessed.”

Despite heroic measures by event organizers and volunteers, rain and temperatures in the mid 20s this week meant snow cover on the Alexandre Bilodeau mogul course was a huge challenge.

By today the temperatures had cooled somewhat, but it was too late. The course was a swath of white flanked by brown dirt on either side and the jumps were encased in plywood in an attempt to keep them solid enough to launch skiers into their acrobatic tricks.

Unfortunately, after the qualification runs this morning, rocks and bare patches began to appear and organizers deemed the course unsafe for the finals rounds. As a result, qualification results stand as final results.

Quebec City’s Robichaud, who earned her first FIS World Cup win earlier this season in Japan, was crowned Canada’s champion, her first career National Single Moguls title, with a score of 26.21.

“It’s just great because I’ve never been National Champ in singles, which means a lot to me. It feels good,” said Robichaud who has taken the top prize in duals.

“With the rocks and little rivers under the course here it was pretty sketchy, I can’t believe the volunteers pulled this out to keep the course together even to get the qualification run on this morning.”

Spruce Grove, Alta.’s Chelsea Henitiuk and Lorraine, Que’s Alexandra Dufresne took home their first single mogul national medals, a silver and bronze, respectively, with scores of 23.65 and 22.99.

On the men’s side, 2012 FIS World Cup points leader Mikael Kingsbury took his third-straight national title with a score of 26.06. It was a storybook ending to an amazing season for the 19-year-old Deux-Montagnes, Que. native who earned 13 World Cup podiums this year.

“It’s always great to be the Canadian Champion, with our super strong team that’s a big title,” said Kingsbury. “I remember when I was on the (Quebec) provincial team I was always looking up to National Team guys, and this was the big event for me so it brings back good memories to compete with all those provincial team guys.”

He added that today’s conditions were very challenging, “Slushy bumps are usually easy, but today the moguls were too soft. You had to ski on the tops of the moguls or else you would punch front because the moguls were big and the snow was really heavy. I think they did a good job with the course to keep it clean for qualifications, but it was a good decision to cancel the final. People were starting to crash trying to avoid the rocks and dirt.”

P-O Gagné of Montreal took second place on his home mountain at 24.36. The 22-year-old National C Team member had a break out season, culminating in making finals at two World Cup events.

Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que. who earned his first World Cup medal this season, a bronze in France, was third at 24.04.

Tomorrow’s  National Aerials Championship has been cancelled due to weather. Officials will make a final determination regarding Sunday’s dual moguls tomorrow afternoon, pending an evaluation of the course by coaches and officials.

The team’s year-end banquet where the male and female athlete of the year will be awarded a Suzuki from Suzuki Canada has been moved to tomorrow (Saturday) evening.

For more information contact Canadian Freestyle Ski Association Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin at: kelleykorbin@freestyleski.com

-30-

CANADA POST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

MOGULS

MARCH 23, 2012 – VAL SAINT-COME, QUEBEC

Complete Results to be posted at:

http://freestyleski.com/wp/results/results-2012/

WOMEN – top 12

MEN – Top 16

VANCOUVER, B.C. (MARCH 21, 2012) — Canada’s best mogul and aerial skiers will converge on Val Saint-Come, Que. this weekend for the Canada Post National Championships.

Fresh off the FIS World Cup tour, Crystal Globe winners Olivier Rochon (Gatineau, Que.) and Mikael Kingsbury (Deux Montagnes, Que.) will join their teammates and provincial team members in aerial, mogul and dual mogul events at the Freestyle Excellence Centre there.

It’s an opportunity for up-and-coming athletes from across the country to train and compete with their National Team heroes.

It’s also an opportunity for the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association to honor its brightest talent.

Two thousand twelve was a year that saw exceptional performances from the Canadian Freestyle Ski Team, culminating in the wining of the FIS Freestyle Nations Cup for the seventh-straight year.

Other highlights included:

• Crystal Globe wins by mogul skier Mikael Kingsbury and aerialist Olivier Rochon
• Overall World Cup Crystal Globe win by Kingsbury
• 42 FIS World Cup medal wins, including 13 gold, 18 silver and 11 bronze, spread amongst 12 athletes from four disciplines (aerials, moguls, halfpipe and slopestyle)
• 13 National Team members landing in the top ten of the FIS grand prix
• First World Cup wins for four team members: Philippe Marquis, Audrey Robichaud, Olivier Rochon and Kaya Turski
• First World Cup podiums for five team members: Marc-Antoine Gagnon, Noah Bowman, Olivier Rochon, Cedric Rochon and Alex Bellemare
• Five Dew Tour medals and six X Games medals, including X Games double golds by Kaya Turski and Rosalind Groenewoud
  • NorAm Cup Grand Prix win by 16-year-old Andi Naude of the BC Team who took home four-straight gold medals in mogul events on that circuit

In recognition of the phenomenal season, CFSA sponsor Suzuki Canada is awarding the male and female athletes of the year with the use of a Suzuki vehicle for 12 months.

This year’s nominees for these prestigious awards, and the fabulous prizes, are:

Female Athlete of the Year nominees:

• Slopestyle skier Kaya Turski who won every event she entered this year, including X Games and Euro X golds

• Mogul skier Justine Dufour-Lapointe who was second overall in the FIS Mogul Grand Prix and took home eight World Cup medals.

• Halfpipe skier Rosalind Groenewoud who earned five medals at AFP platinum-level events, including X Games and Euro X golds

Male Athlete of the Year nominees:

• Mogul skier Mikael Kingsbury who won Crystal Globes as the overall and mogul FIS Freestyle Ski champion and landed on the podium at every event this season with eight wins, four silvers and one bronze

• Aerialist Olivier Rochon who won the Crystal Globe as the FIS WC aerials champion with five World Cup podiums

• Halfpipe skier Noah Bowman who was the Aspen X Games silver medalist and a silver medalist at the US Grand Prix Mammoth World Cup.

Bowman will also take home the trophy for ‘best performance by a newcomer’.

The Canadian Team’s amazing season was marred by the deaths of Halfpipe Team member Sarah Burke and David and Thomas Duffy of the Camp Fortune Freestyle Club. Their contributions to freestyle in Canada will be honored at the annual National Championship banquet to be held on Saturday night.

All media and members of the public are invited to come and watch the action at Val Saint-Come this weekend.

Single moguls runs Friday, March 23; Aerials are on Saturday; and, the competitive season wraps up with Dual Moguls on Sunday.

Full event schedule for the Canada Post National Championships is available at: http://freestyleski.com/wp/schedule/.

The moguls and dual moguls events will be live-streamed at:

For more information contact Canadian Freestyle Ski Association Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin at: kelleykorbin@freestyleski.com

-30-

Full Canadian Team results from the 2012 season available at: http://freestyleski.com/wp/results/results-by-athlete/

National Team Athletes scheduled to compete at Canada Post National Championships:

Moguls

Aerials

Nineteen-year-old Mikael Kingsbury wrapped up his season in dominating fashion – winning a medal at every World Cup, including a silver in today’s dual moguls.

It was just a formality after a season that included eight wins, four silvers and a bronze; but the Deux-Montagnes, Que. native also took home the Crystal Globe for moguls and the overall globe for all freestyle disciplines.

Patrick Deneen of the US edged Kingsbury in today’s final dual to take he gold after the grand-prix points leader bobbled.

It was an all-Canadian small final, as Terrebonne, Que.’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon rivaled Langley, B.C.’s Eddie Hicks for the bronze. Hicks fell on the top portion of the course giving Gagnon his first-career World Cup podium.

Gagnon, who lost to Kingsbury in the semi-finals, was ecstatic.

“It feels so good, I’ve had a couple really good results this year but I never had a podium, and today I skied super good,” said Gagnon who believes the strength of the Canadian team comes rests on their close personal connections.

“Everyone is talented and what helps us the most is during the summer when we train all together with good chemistry. You can see it in the results,” said Gagnon.

Hicks finished the day fourth, his best showing for the season. Cedric Rochon of St. Sauveur, Que. was seventh and Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis was ninth.

On the women’s side, action was just as exciting as Justine Dufour-Lapointe took her first victory of the year with a lightening fast final dual against Miki Ito, from Japan.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe en route to victory

Justine’s big sister Chloé won the bronze medal in the small final against Ekaterina Stolyarova of Russia.

The two Dufour-Lapointe sisters sandwiched Ito on the podium, the first time two sisters have shared that honor at a World Cup competition.

“I’m really stoked that I finish with a gold medal this year, I can’t be more happy about my season, also I finished the grand prix second in the world,” exclaimed Justine.

She added, “It’s been amazing this year. I had a really good relationship with my coaches. (Coach) Marc André (Moreau) knows me well and I can have complete confidence in him.”

Justine and Chloe Dufour Lapointe

Both sisters, who reside in Montreal, Que., were thrilled to stand together on the podium.

“With Chloé it was so cool, we love each other so much and it was so great to share that with her,” said Justine.

Chloé added that she was also very proud of her performance here and “had a lot of fun” on the French course in fresh snow.

Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud was the next Canadian woman in ninth; the eldest Dufour-Lapointe sister was 14^th; NorAm Cup winner Andi Naude from Okanagan Falls, B.C. ws 16^th in her first World Cup performance; Spruce Grove, Alberta’s Chelsea Henitiuk was 17^th and Alexandra Dufresne from Lorraine, Que. was 20^th.

With 1,180 points for the season, Kingsbury easily earned the mogul Crystal Globe over Deneen who earned 715 points.

Kingsbury also won the overall prize as the top male freestyle skier in the world with 90.77 points, besting teammate aerialist Olivier Rochon, who earned the aerials Crystal Globe yesterday and had 55 overall points.

On his way to the mogul and grand prix prizes, Kingsbury broke or matched numerous FIS records. For a male mogul skier he is the youngest to win a Crystal Globe; he has had the most podiums in a season (13); he is the second man to podium at every competition in a season, Russia’s Sergei Shupletsov podiumed at all nine World Cups in 1995; Kingsbury also matched the record held by American Jeremy Bloom for the most consecutive World Cup wins, at six.

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge marveled at Kingsbury’s showing, “I have to say that his performance this year has been monumental. You would certainly be able to conceive of a performance from someone as skilled with a significant amount of experience – like (Hannah Kearney of the US who won the women’s globe). You could dream that this kind of season long performance might be possible– and then you would wake up.  To have the kind of dominant season that Mik has had, given his relative experience (it’s only his second full season on the World Cup tour) and the change to the new format with the super final that requires so many more runs to actually get to the prize each week, his year has been truly unbelievable ….

“I think what makes it quite surreal is that both (Kearney) and Mik have had the same kind of season – making it look so easy, so common place and yet is it all so extraordinary,” said Judge.

What else is extraordinary is the depth of Canadian mogul talent: five Canadian men finished in the top-ten of the grand prix rankings; three Canadian women were in the top six.

For his part, Kingsbury was proud of himself but magnanimous about where the praise for his season belongs.

“When I received the Globe it was like, kind of like an Olympic medal or the best moment for me in sports.” said Kingsbury,

“I want to say thanks to my coach Rob (Kober) for the season that we did together, he helped me and we have a very good connection together

“And to my teammates too, they pushed me all season, they skied great, they were with me almost all the time on the podium so it was fun to share with all those guys and they’re kind of responsible too for my Globe because they helped me a lot.”

American Hannah Kearney was the overall and discipline winner on the women’s side. She also had a remarkable season with 11 wins out of 13 competitions, her record-breaking 16 World Cup winning streak being broken by Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud in Japan in February. Kearney was fifth here after losing a dual to Ito.

Kearney finished the season with 1,195 points in ladies moguls.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe took second spot in the overall, with 732 points.

Canada won the Freestyle Nations Cup for the seventh time in as many years with 6,886 points over second-place USA that earned 5,832.

Canadian Mogul and Aerial Team members wrap up the 2012 season next weekend at the Canada Post Canadian National Championships in Val St. Come, Quebec.

—————-

AGATE

MOGULS WORLD CUP FINALS

MARCH 17, 2012 – MEGEVE, FRANCE

Complete FIS World Cup Results:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=29770&cal_suchsector=FS

Top 16 and Canadian Results:

WOMEN

WOMEN

MEN

COMPLETE FIS 2012 SEASON RESULTS AVAILABLE AT:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/disciplines/freestyle/cupstandings.html

FIS MOGUL WORLD CUP

CANADIAN MOGUL TEAM FINAL 2012 PLACINGS

(Full Canadian Freestyle Team 2012 results available at: http://freestyleski.com/wp/results/results-by-athlete/)

WOMEN

MEN

Dimitri Dashinski from Belarus won today’s competition with a score of 119.82, Hang Zhou of China was second at 114.81 and Oleksandr Abramenko of the Ukraine earned the bronze at 102.70.

Montreal’s Jean-Christophe André had his best finish of the season and was the top Canadian in sixth.

“It was a pretty good day, I didn’t do maybe the best jumps and I made little mistake on my landing in finals but I’m so happy to finish the season on a good note,” said André, adding “I had a pretty rough season, I was always trying to push a little extra for competition but that didn’t really work out for me. This week I just tried to do exactly what I did in training and it worked.”

But the day truly belonged to Rochon, who qualified first for in the semi-finals today with a personal-best score of 129.65 and at that point knew he had the Globe in hand.

“I’m feeling good you know, actually I was pretty nervous this morning, it felt like my first jump of the season but I compete well under pressure,” said Rochon, who’s teammates have dubbed him ‘Ollywood’ for his ability to perform on demand. “And after that first jump I knew the hardest part was done. But we had two plans today: get enough points to get the Globe and maybe get a podium. I’m happy of course, but kind of feel uncompleted because I didn’t podium.”

It was a small touch down in his finals jump that cost Rochon the chance to earn some hardware here today.

He explained, “ I was a little hesitant after my double full in my finals jump and I opened up a bit early and missed my landing by a bit; my back touched. But you know in those kind of jumps with the height I go, those little hesitations can cost you and it did today.”

But the real feat for the 22-year-old was triumphing after a year’s suspension to show enough consistency to win the Globe.

And the overall title was certain vindication for Rochon’s coaches Daniel Murphy and Dennis Capicik who made the difficult decision after the 2010 season to ask him to sit a year out and think about what he really wanted.

Murphy explained, “It was for sure a very out-of-the-ordinary type of decision (to suspend Rochon) — heart-breaking and difficult for us as coaches, but at the same time clear in my mind.

“Olivier is very talented, and sometimes the problem with talented people is to make them realize that at some point they will max out their talent. Our philosophy was to make him realize he can do so much more; to make him go and do the extra mile and not just rely on his talent as an athlete. I knew he could reach a high level if he would embrace that and I knew that for an athlete like Oli losing one year out of the next four years wouldn’t be the end of the world.

“And, in the end, all the credit goes to him because he’s the one who committed and did what we said, he bought in to the process and did some really good work with his sport psych and look where we are today.”

For in Murphy’s book the Crystal Globe is a greater testament to talent and commitment than even an Olympic medal. He said, “To me as a coach and an ex-athlete, this is the highest honor. The consistency week in and week out on different air sites and with all the travelling means you’re a complete and dominating athlete.”

With his Globe, Rochon joins the auspicious ranks of high flying Canadian aerialists such as Steve Omischl, Nicolas Fontaine and Phil Laroche. It is the 20^th time since 1980 that Canada has produced a Globe-winning member of the ‘Canadian Airforce’.

There were no Canadians competing in the women’s division today. The ladies’ podium was a Chinese sweep with Mengtao Xu scoring 97.29, Shuang Cheng at 92.88 and Xin Zhang at 86.46.

The ladies aerials Crystal Globe was awarded to Xu.

The FIS Mogul World Cup season wraps up tomorrow with the World Cup finals in Megeve, France where Mikael Kingsbury will pick up the mogul and freestyle overall Globes and where Canada, for the seventh consecutive year, will win the Nations Cup for freestyle.

————

AERIAL WORLD CUP FINALS

MARCH 17, 2012 – VOSS, NORWAY

Complete FIS World Cup Results:

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=FS&raceid=6246

Top 4 and Canadian Results:

WOMEN

MEN

FIS MEN’S AERIALS FINAL STANDINGS 2012

AFTER 10 OF 10 COMPETITIONS

Rosalind Groenewoud

TIGNES, FRANCE (March 16, 2012) – Calgary’s Rosalind Groenewoud took it down to the wire when she won the European X Games women’s ski halfpipe here today.

Coming into her final run in the best-of-three run competition, Groenewoud was sitting in second position behind Devin Logan. But the feisty Calgarian channeled her friend, Sarah Burke who died in a halfpipe accident in Park City, UT earlier this season, to pull out all the stops including a huge straight air and a 900, to take the lead from the American. Burke won this event last year under similar circumstances.

Groenewoud scored 89.33 on that final run. Logan was more than a point behind, at 85.00. Local girl, Anais Caradeaux of France earned the bronze at 85.00.

It was Groenewoud’s second-straight X Games win, as she took the top spot in Aspen earlier this year.

“I’ve never been in that position before and done well,” said Groenewoud. “Sarah was often in that position – last to drop not winning and then landed a run to win. I was thinking about that and how Sarah was in that position last year at Euro X Games and won and that definitely inspired me to pull out the win here. I definitely thought about her a lot today.”

Fellow Calgary natives Megan Gunning and Keltie Hansen finished today in fifth and tenth spots, with scores of 77.00 and 43.33, respectively.

In men’s pipe action, Vernon, B.C.’s Justin Dorey finished just off the podium in fourth position with a score of 90.00

American youngster Torin Yater-Wallace, 16, won the event with 95.00 points in his final run. Thomas Krief of France was second at 91.66 and American David Wise took the bronze at 90.33.

Dorey, who had a dramatic crash at the Aspen X Games where he hit the deck and dislocated his shoulder, said he was definitely nervous to compete here in his first contest since that accident.

“I was scared, just worried about crashing and hurting my shoulder again, but I landed three fairly decent runs and didn’t hurt my shoulder, so that’s good. It’s definitely a good confidence booster,” said Dorey.

Other Canadians to qualify for today’s event included Noah Bowman of Calgary who finished fifth at 85.00 and Penticton, B.C.’s Matt Margetts, who just couldn’t lay down a run today, landed in eight spot at 38.00.

Edmonton’s Mike Riddle did not qualify for today’s eight-man finals. He finished in 11^th at the qualification event yesterday.

FIS World Cup aerials finals run tomorrow in Voss, Norway with Canadian Olivier Rochon bidding to win the crystal globe. FIS World Cup mogul finals will be held Sunday in Mageve, France, where Mikael Kingsbury will be awarded the crystal globe for moguls and the overall men’s freestyle globe.

Winter X Games Tignes 2012

Ski Halfpipe

Final RESULTS

Full results available at: http://espn.go.com/action/xgames/winter/2012/tignes/results/_/eventId/1040/men-ski-superpipe

WOMEN

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