Red Mountain was the site of the Canadian Open Junior Freeskiing championship last week that saw great results coming from local skiers.
Over 100 freeskiers from Canada and the U.S. between the ages of seven and 18 competed with Rossland skiers taking top prize in three of the six events.
The international competition began at Red on Thursday with the 7-11 and 12-14 age categories laying down their opening runs on Link’s Line, while the 15-18 year olds chose their lines on Friday.
Icy and early-season conditions made qualifying runs interesting but set up an exciting final day of competition on Saturday.
Each freeskiing run is scored by three judges based on cumulative points where competitors are judged on their choice of line, control, technique, fluidity and aggression.
Results: Mackenzie Flood from Rossland took top spot in the female 15-18 age group with the two best runs on both days for a total of 57.4. Nelson’s Haley Cooke was second and Abby Ward from Littleton, U.S.A. was third.
In the Male 15-18 category, Sam Kuch of Beasley squeezed out a first place finish with 73.1 points, beating Brendan Kelly of Nelson by one-tenth of a point, while Jackson Bathgate of Whistler took third.
Nelson skiers took top spot in the 11-12 male and female groups with Savannah Leishman capturing gold for the girls and Jesse Thurston winning on the boys side. Leishman beat out Jemma Capel of Banff and Anna Thompson of Seattle, while Thurston’s 69.2 score topped second-place finisher Elias Lutz and Loki Wichman-Ratthe in third, also from Nelson.
In the 7-11 female category Rossland’s Samara Kuhn took top spot, beating out fellow Rosslander Erin Flood who skied to second place.
Simon Hillis of Rossland led all boys with a 64.1 combined total, as Rossland’s Bohdi Ellis-Kusy nabbed second place, and Fruitvale skier Calix Webber third.