Domination at the Canadian Freeskiing Championships

The event concluded today at Blackcomb Mountain's "Diamond Bowl". Weather threatened to delay the competition with tough visibility and light snowfall. Pacific storms held off long enough for the finals to take place.

In the men's division, Manuel Gaidet of Courchevel, France moved up from his fourth position going into the finals to win the Canadian title. Gaidet skied a very technical line through the top of Diamond Bowl, with dangerous exposure and intense speed. He skied through a technical cliffband in the upper section of the bowl and worked his way through some steep gladed trees through to the bottom of the venue with flawless fluidity. The battle from yesterday's semi-finals between American Rick Greener (SCOTT USA) and Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit earned Chicherit second place. "I come to (the North American contests) to win," said Chicherit, "if I don't win I will crash trying." Greener tied with Canadian Pierre-Yves LeBlanc (SCOTT USA) for third.

Canada's Jennifer Ashton, a two-time Canadian Freeskiing Champion, managed to ski her way to the three-peat, defending her title once again. Yesterday's leader, Jenna Funston (SCOTT USA), finished second and Ingrid Backstrom (SCOTT USA) of Squaw Valley, USA moved up from the eighth place spot going into the finals to third place with the highest scoring womanís run of the day.

Television coverage of the event will air on Outdoor Life Network (OLN) later this Winter. The Canadian Championships was the first part of a 3-stop world tour. Stop #2 is the Subaru U.S. Nationals in Snowbird, Utah, January 25-26, 2003, and the World Tour Freeride Finals in March in Les Arcs, France. The IFSA World Tour assigns points to the top 15 men and five women at each event and an overall champion is determined at the end of the season. The World Tour is run by Mountain Sports International and sanctioned by the International Freeskiers Association.

For event information and registration: Contact Mountain Sports International 970-349-1939.

Additional information can be found at www.freeskiers.org or www.mtsports.com.