Karen Kobayashi getting ready for her time trial.
Josh Cohen stepping up onto the butter box at the start of the course.
Mike Perle hitting the big hip.
Josh Cohen also airing the hip during practice.
Karen doubling down to generate speed for the step up butter box.
Mike Perle in his 1st heat in which he was top two and advanced to the round of 16.Friday Feb 10th were the Grand Prix time trials. Karen qualified 11th which put her into the heats. As 16 women qualified for Sunday Feb 12th finals. Mike Perle time trialed 22nd which put him into the 32 men's final. Josh Cohen stepped up his riding this trip hitting huge features like the 70ft hip. With a few mistakes in his time trial runs he was unable to make the 32 men's cut. This was Josh's first Grand Prix and he went for it which was great to see.
Many of us have been wishing for it to snow all season and the one day when we don't want it to snow it was dumping. The course still ran pretty well with the snow but the visibility was tricky.
Karen had a hard first heat with Dominique Maltais, SMS alumni Jacqueline Hernandez and another USA racer. Karen placed 3rd in the heat. Dominique who is this years X-Games Champion went on to win the Grand Prix. Karen placed 10th for the day earning herself 130 FIS points. She was the 3rd Junior as well.
Mike Perle was also racing an SMS alumni first heat. Mike and Alex Deibold went one two in the first round to advance to the round of 16. In the round of 16 Mike was in 3rd behind US Team athletes Graham Wantanbe and Alex Deibold. Mike went for the inside pass on the turn after the big hip. He unfortunately went off balance and fell on the step down. Mike was going for it, riding fast and holding his own with top ranked riders. Mike placed 16th and was the top ranked Junior which really helps him towards earning his Junior World spot.
Markus Schairer from Austria won the men's. Nate Holland placed 4th earning himself the USA National Title as he was the top American. Graham Wantanbe placed 5th and claims retirement after the event. He's still one of the top racers in the world and will be missed on tour.
Utah has been a good trip. Now the team is excited to travel back to SMS to join up with everyone. We'll see you soon.
I received some good news on SMS results last night and today. Spencer Shaw placed 3rd at the Dew Tour halfpipe finals and Louie Vito Won. Noelle Edwards placed 3rd in the Gatorade Free Flow halfpipe finals. Which was also taking place in Snow Basin Utah at the Dew Tour Finals.
No comments:
Post a Comment