Manuel Gaidet and Ingrid Backstrom Take Podium
Whistler, BC, CAN - Manuel "Manu" Gaidet of Courchevel, France becomes the first man ever to defend Canadian Freeskiing Title in "Diamond Bowl" on 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 the 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"
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 and 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. Â 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.
Mountain Sports International (MSI) is a private company, founded in 1997, to develop and produce action/adventure sports events and programming in North America. Partners include Red Bull, Subaru, Saab, The North Face and Amstel Light. Â MSI owns and produces the Freeskiing World Tour, US Freeskiing Nationals, Canadian Freeskiing Championships, and NA Freeskiing Championships plus several other properties and concepts. MSI manages The World Superpipe Championships, US Saab Salomon Crossmax Series, Salomon Oasis Tour, Red Bull Heavy Metal, Red Bull Snowthrill of AK, and Red Bull Bike Battle. MSI has provided infrastructure and expertise for the NBC Gravity Games and ESPN Action Sports Projects, including the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour. MSI specializes in matching clients with events for brand penetration into target demographics, developing product identification and loyalty. MSI matches brand and culture, company and credibility to create sought after events that help to define the action sports culture.
Whistler Blackcomb is owned and operated by Intrawest Corporation. Intrawest Corporation (IDR:NYSE; ITW:TSX) is the leading developer and operator of village-centered resorts across North America. The company owns nine mountain resorts, including Whistler Blackcomb, North America's most popular mountain resort. Intrawest also owns Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Florida and has a premier vacation ownership business, Club Intrawest. The company has a 45 per cent interest in Alpine Helicopters Ltd., owner of Canadian Mountain Holidays, the largest heli-skiing operation in the world. Â Intrawest is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia and is located on the World Wide Web at www.intrawest.com Site of the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games