Monday, April 30

2001 World Skiing Invitational Slopestyle

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David Crichton continued his dominance in Whistler for the 2nd Annual Telus World Skiing Invitational, capturing the slopestyle first place check. Phil Belanger followed him in second place and Boyd Easley finished third. Throughout the week, Crichton has been doing an unbelievable job jumping, sticking close to everyone off his landings and dazzling the crowd with amazing tricks. He rolled through today's competition leading the day with a high score of 48.1, four points ahead of Belanger.

Phil Belanger launches in the quarterpipe.

The course consisted of a top rail and then split off into two different jumps, which gave the athletes a choice of jump size. They then moved into a section where they could chose to hit another big air jump or a spine followed by a rail and moving into a last big air jump before they set up for the biggest quarterpipe I have ever seen (about 30 feet.)

Phil Larose..switch 900 Lu Kang.

Twenty athletes were scheduled to start the competition including: David Crichton, Phil Belanger, Boyd Easley, Phil Larose, Vinnie Dorion, Mathieu Paquette, CR Johnson, Steele Spence and many others. The guys were going off huge all day, throwing d-spin 720, flares, 900 Lu Kang's, rodeo flips, misty flips, and everything else you could think of.

Slopestyle Awards...Belanger, Crichton, Easley.

"Crichton's been performing incredibly well in training, but has fallen short in competition," said Mike Douglas. "It all came together for him this weekend at the World Skiing Invitational with a first and a third place finish. Belanger's second place finish wasn't a surprise - he's one of the most stylish riders in the world, and only missed the top spot because he chose more stylish tricks than technical ones. Easley was incredibly consistent throughout the day putting down clean, solid runs."

After the competition Whistler/Blackcomb donated $3000 Canadian for an exhibition on the quarterpipe. About 12 of the guys sessioned the jump for an hour. Crichton was doing some huge flare to 180's, Matt Sterbenz was going huge, but the Phil's were the guys to watch. They were both going about 20 feet each jump and doing some huge 540's. With five minutes left in the exhibition Larose and Belanger gathered on top of the take-off, talked briefly and then both skied down. Larose caught about 15 feet and looped to the right of the landing. Belanger skied over Larose traveling about 30 feet, which pushed him out of the quarterpipe. He landed on the backside of the jump but had gained the respect of the judges for the best jumps of the afternoon. Belanger took home the extra $3000 but split it with everyone who had jumped. The weeks big winner had to have been David Crichton who took home a total $17,500 Canadian placing third and first.

Qualifying Finals
Rank Bib Last Name First Name Nat Sponsors R1 R2 Best R1 R2 Best

1 14 CRICHTON David CAN Hart Japan 45.6 44.2 45.6 48.1 48.1 48.1
2 5 BELANGER Phil CAN Dynastar / Lange 42.7 41.1 42.7 44.5 44.0 44.5
3 17 EASLEY Boyd USA Oakley / Rossignol 44.5 44.2 44.5 37.3 43.6 43.6
4 6 LAROSE Phil CAN Dynastar / Lange 43.5 41.7 43.5 43.4 43.0 43.4
5 22 GIBSON Shayne CAN Salomon / TMC 44.8 42.7 44.8 39.9 41.6 41.6
6 16 PAQUETTE Mathieu CAN Rossignol / Dragon 42.6 36.8 42.6
7 1 DORION Vincent CAN Salomon 24.9 42.6 42.6
8 23 B. Iannick CAN Salomon 13.5 41.1 41.1
9 2 SUTHERLAND Toben CAN Nordica / CEBE 40.9 32.8 40.9
10 19 HIBBERT Scott CAN Rossignol / Spy 40.5 28.4 40.5
11 8 THOMAS Rex CAN Orage / Atomic 39.2 30.5 39.2
12 13 SPENCE Steele USA Atomic / Rip Curl 38.9 14.1 38.9
13 18 JOHNSON CR USA Salomon / Spyder 38.4 24.3 38.4
14 12 NUNEZ Mauro SPA Head/Tyrolia 34.5 35.6 35.6
15 10 BORONOWSKI Anthony CAN K2 Skis 33.9 18.7 33.9
16 15 TURPIN Chris CAN Fischer Skis 31.9 32.7 32.7
17 11 STERBENZ Matt USA Fischer Skis / Morphic 31.0 29.1 31.0
18 9 BURKE Sarah CAN Salomon 22.9 17.0 22.9
20 CUSSON JF CAN Salomon / Oakley dns dns dns
7 REGNIER Julien FRA Rossignol / Oakley dns dns dns
4 WOODS Andrew USA Dynastar / Lange dns dns dns
3 MERCON Nick USA K2 Skis dns dns dns