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Heil on top of world; another medal for Richards VOSS, Norway, March 3, 2007 – Moguls skier Jenn Heil of Spruce Grove, Alta., continued her successful weekend with her second straight Freestyle FIS World Cup win Saturday.
Friday’s victory clinched her fourth straight overall World Cup women’s moguls’ title, while Saturday’s win over one of the world’s toughest courses clinched the overall title for all disciplines. Heil, who now lives in Montreal, scored 25.34 to post a whopping victory margin of 1.55 points ahead of silver medallist Margarita Marbler, the Austrian who was also second Friday. A Canadian also garnered the women’s bronze medal for the second straight day, as Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., stopped to the podium for the third time this season. Stephanie St-Pierre of Victoriaville, Que., who was third Friday, was 14th this time. Sylvia Kerfoot of Vancouver was seventh, while World Cup rookie Nathalie Bazin was 10th. “It’s the most challenging World Cup course I’ve ever skied on,” said Heil, 23. “That title previously belonged to Inawashiro (Japan) but the top section is really steep and there’s a big drop to the landing for the first jump. “I had to land in perfect position, plus the turns are very close together. We saw a lot of people make mistakes today and yesterday.” Saturday’s win also represented more technical breakthroughs for Heil, who says she skied to her limit Friday, but Saturday successfully worked on using faster spins and less air on this unforgiving course.” Richards was more than pleased with her bronze. “We came out this morning and it was icy and incredibly steep,” said Richards, 25. “Just to get down we would have been happy. Just to get down and come third, I’m ecstatic.” It was a strong finish to the World Cup season for the Canadian women’s squad, which now heads to the world championships in Italy. The overall women’s moguls’ standings show Heil on top with 784 points, with Shannon Bahrke of the United States second at 496. Richards was fourth, St-Pierre fifth and Kerfoot 12th. In the overall standings for the freestyle ski disciplines of moguls,
aerials, ski cross and half pipe combined, Heil won with 87.11 points.
Aerialist Jacqui Cooper of Australia was second at 79.17 and aerialist
Nina Li of China third. “I really wouldn’t be here without them. And I wouldn’t continue to improve, and that’s really exciting.” Dale Begg-Smith of Australia was a close winner in Saturday’s moguls final. He scored 25.67, to 25.50 for Sami Mustonen of Finland. David Babic of the U.S. was third in 24.82. Top Canadian finalist was Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville,
Que., in 13th. “My skiing today wasn’t there. It’s a good day to put behind me,” said Bilodeau, 19. But he said placing third overall in the moguls’ standings, after placing second last year as a rookie, was satisfying. “It was a pretty good year to gain experience.” In the 2006-07 men’s overall moguls standings, Begg-Smith dominated with six wins in 11 starts to score 784 points. Guilbaut Colas of France was second at 496 and Bilodeau third with 408. In the men’s overall encompassing all disciplines, Begg-Smith again prevailed. He scored 78.40. Aerialist Steve Omischl, who calls North Bay home but now lives in Kelowna, B.C., was second with 67.67 points. Two other Canadians also cracked the top 10: Bilodeau was fifth
and aerialist Cord Spero of Grande Prairie, Alta., ninth. For detailed results and standings, click
here. -- Posted March 3, 2007
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