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Canadians Sweep Moguls Skiing Gold
Madonna di Campiglio, Italy - Canada celebrated two moguls skiing victories Friday at the 2007 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Madonna. Twenty five year-old Kristi Richards (Summerland, BC) and 27-year-old Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (Drummondville, QC) took surprise victories at the nighttime title competition on the famous Canalone Miramonti course.
The 2006 Olympic Champions and 2007 FIS World Cup overall winners Jennifer Heil (CAN - Spruce Grove, AB) and Dale Begg-Smith (AUS) captured the silver medals. Defending champion Nate Roberts (USA - Park City, UT), returning to the hill where he won his first World Cup, collected the men’s bronze medal while 20-year-old Deborah Scanzio surprised before the home audience by claiming the bronze. Dave Babic (Washington, VT) was fifth while former Olympic medalist Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, UT) was fourth in the women's contest, leading three U.S. women into the top 10.
Rousseau, who also won the qualification, took a clear win ahead of the season dominator Begg-Smith who had ranked 7th in the qualification while Roberts was 2nd. For Rousseau, who did not make the Canadian team at last year’s Olympics, this was the first victory at the highest level since his two World Cup victories in 2003. He finished 5th in the FIS World Cup moguls standings this season.
"It’s a dream that has come true for me!" shared Rousseau. "It’s been 11 seasons since I started to compete at high level and since then I wanted to win a medal. I was injured before the Olympics and I couldn’t participate, then during the season I was always very close to win but something didn’t work well...now, finally, I’ve a medal around my neck! A fantastic breakthrough!"
"I just wanted to ski my run. I trusted my skills, my coaches...and I just wanted to do what I know I can do," Roberts said. "This is awesome. I have great memories of this hill and to be on the podium again, in my second World Championships, is such a great feeling."
Heil won the ladies’ qualification held in the late afternoon but then lost narrowly in the finals to teammate Richards. Scanzio had a great final run after she had been 13th in the qualification. Richards, who was 4th in this year’s Freestyle FIS World Cup moguls standings, also celebrated her career-first World Cup victory earlier this season. Scanzio claimed her first World Cup podium earlier this season, following her silver medal in dual moguls at the FIS Junior Freestyle World Ski Championships at Krasnoe Ozero (RUS) last year.
"I’m really happy for my race today and still now it feels like something surreal," said Richards. "I come here to have fun, take a chance and try to do my best. Then came the gold medal and the silver for Jennifer...just great! I hadn’t any expectation at all, so I can only say that I’m happier than ever!"
"I’ve never won a medal in a single race in the World Championships so I can say that I’m satisfied with the podium and the silver medal. Kristi deserved to win today and I’m happy for her," conceded Heil. "I tried my best but it wasn’t enough for the gold."
Poor training, regroup and...medal-winning run
Roberts, whose first World Cup victory came in a night competition Dec. 20, 2003 at Madonna - and whose second and third World Cup moguls wins came this season, qualified second behind Rousseau. Before the final run, he kept pressure at arm's length by reminding himself he only needed to ski as well as he's skied this season.
The irony, he said, is that he struggled in training during the morning session before the afternoon qualifying run. The unseasonable warm weather created soft conditions but he regrouped and at night, the snow was a little more firm.
"This is over a little bit from the course I won on [in the '04 season] but it's on the same venue, and, like I said, I have such great memories here.
"I trained like crap this morning and I got a little down on myself, but I'm a competitor, and I love to compete, so I put on my game face and I got after it," Roberts said. "I just wanted to ski my run; that's what got me this far and it was all I needed to do, and hopefully I'd get rewarded for it. You gotta know what you need to do."
He skied next to last, then clicked on his backflip off the top jump and a backflip with an iron cross off the jump at the bottom.
Bahrke, 2002 Olympic silver medalist, '03 World Cup champion and duals bronze medalist, felt she was skiing well enough to the make the podium, but she had a little bobble in landing a heli (360-degree vertical rotation) on the top jump and that scuttled her medal chances.
Bahrke: No room for even small miscues with the women
"My top air ended too quickly. It put me in the back seat," she explained, "so I kinda 'wheelied' out of the top jump. But the rest was good, but the women are skiing at such a high level now and you can't have that one little mistake."
Snow conditions changed from daytime slush to sugar snow with ice underneath, she said. "It was a good course - they did a good job preparing, but it was different," Bahrke said. "It was tough to get in some good training, but the course shaped up tonight and was good skiing...
"Usually, I do so good under the lights and these were awesome, and it was fun to be up here, and to end my season on a positive note, but...well, maybe in two years.
"I thought I could be on the podium that I would be on the podium, because I knew I could pull it all together," she said.
2007 FIS FREESTYLE WORLD SKI CHAMPIONSHIPS
Madonna Di Campiglio, ITA - March 9, 2007
Men's Moguls (16 made finals)
1. Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau, Canada, 27.17
2. Dale Begg-Smith, Australia, 26.65
3. Nate Roberts, Park City, UT, 26.63
4. Pierre Ochs, France, 26.54
5. Dave Babic, Washington, VT, 26.12
Women's Moguls (16 made finals)
1. Kristi Richards, Canada, 25.37
2. Jennifer Heil, Canada, 25.25
3. Deborah Scanzio, Italy, 25.12
4. Shannon Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA, 24.86
5. Stephanie St. Pierre, Canada, 24.58
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Canadians Sweep Moguls Skiing Gold
