Snowbird, UT-Once again under snowy skies, athletes competing in the
Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals skied Snowbird's renowned fresh powder on
their way to World Tour points. Forty-one of the fifty men scheduled to
compete today were able to compete on Silver Fox for the opportunity to
advance to Friday's World Tour finals sponsored by
The North Face, Atomic,
Snowbird Resort, and Amstel Light. The additional nine men will ski to
qualify for the final Friday morning. World Tour leader Manu Gaidet tied
with Canadian Ian McIntosh for the top qualifying position. Gaidet skied
the same run as last year's winner of the day Guerlain Chicherit. He
dropped a small air at the top into a series of fluid turns, followed by a
big air at the bottom. No mistakes and fast aggressive skiing with no
hesitation, which put him on top of the leader board, tied with Ian
McIntosh.
After the final nine men get their runs on Silver Fox Friday morning, ten
women and twenty-six men will ski North Baldy for the Subaru U.S.
Freeskiing Nationals title and World Tour points. North Baldy has been
collecting snow for four days awaiting the best athletes of the Subaru
U.S. Freeskiing Nationals.
The Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals is the second stop on the
International Free Skiers Association (IFSA) World Tour.
www.freeskiers.org The first stop, the
Tylenol Canadian Freeskiing Championships was held January 7-10, 2004. 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 & 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. 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. 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.
Located 29 miles from Salt Lake International Airport, Snowbird Ski &
Summer Resort is North America's most accessible year-round resort.
Snowbird already has received over 300 inches of snow this season. For
more information go to www.snowbird.com.
Jackie Baker
jacqulinebaker@msn.com
