Marquis’ medal tops brilliant day of freestyle

SAINTE-ADÈLE, Que., January 25, 2008 – Under a brilliant blue sky and in front of a frenzied crowd of more than 5,000 fans, moguls skier Vincent Marquis of Quebec City captured a bronze-medal during Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix action Saturday.

Vincent Marquis

The performance followed a fourth-place finish last week in Lake Placid for his previous best placing in a World Cup single moguls event.

Marquis’s third-place score at Ski Mont Gabriel came after winning Saturday morning’s qualification round. In the final, France’s Guilbaut Colas emerged with the win. He scored 26.38, while Ruslan Sharifullin of Russia was second in 26.06.

“I don’t think it was as good as my semi-final run. I missed a couple of turns, but I was able to get the rhythm back,” said Marquis, 23, whose bronze-medal score was 25.99. Marquis was on the 2003-04 World Cup squad before joining the national development squad the following year. However, he started producing world-class performances last season, when he had four top-10 World Cup finishes.

Gaining confidence, Marquis says he now feels he can ski with the best in the world.
“I think it’s good to have a performance like this at home in front of family and friends,” he added. “I’m still kind of new at this, but week-in and week-out I’m skiing better.”

The bronze medal represents Marquis’s second-ever World Cup medal, but first in single moguls. He picked up a dual moguls silver medal last year in Deer Valley.

Saturday’s other Canadian male finalists, Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Que., and Alex Bilodeau of Rosemère, Que., finished 13th and 16th respectively. Next Canadians were Matt Crosby, of Summerland, B.C., in 17th, Vincent Sigouin of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., 18th and Renaud Jacques-Dagenais, of Prévost, Que., 20th.

World Cup rookie Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, 16, of Montreal showed her fifth-place finish in the qualifying round was no fluke in women’s moguls. The 2007 dual moguls junior world champion also finished fifth in the final. Her score of 25.52 left her team-mate, 2007 moguls world champion Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., sixth in 25.36.

“I just did my job, and I think this course was for me,” said the Canadian teenager after competing in only her fourth World Cup. “I just did my job,” she said, repeating herself. “I had nothing to lose and I just enjoyed myself out there.”

The podium belonged to winner Ekaterina Stolyarova of Russia in 26.01, Deborah Scanzio of Italy in 25.71 and bronze medallist Michelle Roark of the United States.

The other Canadian female finalist, Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City, was eighth in 24.66 after a World Cup career-best fourth place in Lake Placid last week.

National development squad member Chelsea Henitiuk of Calgary missed the final by just 7/100ths of a point while placing 17th. Jackie Brown of Cambridge, Ont., was 19th and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe’s sister, Maxime, finished 20th.

The Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix resumes with aerials events Sunday.