Full Results

Telluride Ski Resort opens terrain outside of their regular ski resort boundaries for today’s finals

Sitting in first position going into this morning’s run, Crystal Wright had some bad luck when she caught her tips in a drift of snow, causing her to crash. Claiming another victim, second place qualifier Jess McMillan met the exact same fate which opened the door for Iris Noack, Kate Olsen, Jane Somerville, Carrie Jo Chernoff and Andria Huskinson, who advanced to the super-final in that order.



In the final run of the women’s competition Iris Noack made a small mistake, falling and costing her to slide from first position to fifth overall. It was Jane Somerville’s consistent smooth style throughout the entire competition that pushed her just ahead of Kate Olsen, both from Aspen, to take the women’s title. Andria Huskinson of Alta finished in third, Carrie Jo Chernoff of Crested Butte finished fourth.



“I used a different technique the last two days,” said Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open Women’s 2007 Champion Jane Somerville. “I skied conservative, but strong. I realize that sometimes taking a gamble, you could win big time, but I’m also learning that conservative, clean, difficult runs linked together could also add up to a winning score.”



After yesterday’s qualifier round only 7.6 points separated all 41 men who advanced, so it was almost anyone’s game to win or lose going into today’s finals. First run stand-outs included: Jamie Blair’s fast, smooth run, which catapulted him 34 spots to make the super-final; Josh Daiek whose gigantic, perfectly executed back-flip won him a Sickbird nomination; and Adrian Coirier whose hesitation-free, beautifully executed run catapulted him into first place, with at least six points standing between him and everyone else going into the super-final.



Telluride local Chason Russell was sitting in second place going into the super-final, but played it safe and was knocked back to third overall while Griffin Post of Alta, UT, had an incredible second run, nailing each and every aspect he hit. Post was awarded a Sickbird nomination for putting together such a clean, aggressive and flawless run and moved from fifth to place second overall. Adrian Corier of Les Arcs, France, who stunned spectators with his near-perfect run, played it safe going into the final run. With a six point buffer to play with, Corier did not feel the need to step it up and risk losing his placing. In the end he won the event by just eight-tenths of a point.



“I’m here to win the series,” said Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open Men’s 2007 Champion Adrian Corier. “I knew I was six points ahead going into the final so my run was not that big. I skied fast but I didn’t take any risk, I wanted to get to the bottom. I’ve never won any competition!”



As always, spectators enjoyed watching freeskiing’s elite battle it out for the Tobias Lee Memorial Sickbird buckle award. The Sickbird award is presented to the competitor with the most spirited competition run, often involving super-human talent and agility. This weekend’s Sickbird buckle was awarded to Cliff Bennett of Snowbird, UT, who was the only competitor to attempt a 40 foot gap jump near the bottom of today’s venue. Bennett, a previous Sickbird winner, was nominated both days of the event for his incredible antics.



The North Face Young Gun Award returns in 2007, honoring outstanding new talent in competitive freeskiing. Points accumulated throughout the season will crown one lucky under-21-year-old a full sponsorship from The North Face and the honor of becoming the next Young Gun winner.



New in 2007, MSI will be posting same-day video broadcasts on the newly redesigned usfreeskiing.com featuring state of the art video and photo player technology. The daily uploads of video, photos, news and results of each day’s competition action will be available mere hours after each day concludes.



The Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series continues next week at the Inaugural Squaw Valley U.S.A Freeskiing Open, at Squaw Valley U.S.A, CA. Additional stops to the U.S. Freeskiing Series, which has grown from four stops to five in 2007, include the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, UT, the Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open at Jackson Hole, WY and the Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships at Kirkwood, CA.



Special thanks to our sponsors:

Subaru of America

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Scott USA

Sports Insurance

Powder Magazine

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Leatherman

Grabber

Ski Press Magazine

IFSA

Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort

Telluride Ski Resort

Squaw Valley USA

Kirkwood Mountain Resort