Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

HANG TIME – Yukoner Ryan McLaren soars through the air as he completes a backflip during the big air competition at the Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships at Mount Sima on Saturday. McLaren won the masters big air event.

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Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Image title

Photo by Vince Fedoroff

Yukoners fly high at freestyle ski champs

The focus was on the younger up-and-coming competitors at the Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships –

By Dustin Cook on April 18, 2018

The focus was on the younger up-and-coming competitors at the Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships – so much so that broken bones and injuries didn’t prevent the judges and organizers from ensuring the event took place for these athletes.

The two-day competition was held at Mount Sima Saturday and Sunday with the big air and slopestyle competitions respectively.

Freestyle ski team head coach Graham Pollock said the competitions went well and had a great turnout even through the adversity of wacky weather and injuries.

Pollock himself blew his knee out earlier in the season. Yukon freestyler Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon had a breakout season on the North American stage, but was unable to compete because of a broken thumb, but he returned to help judge his younger teammates.

“It’s good for all the competitors to see even with him disabled and not competing, he’s able to be a part of it,” Pollock said. “They really look up to him and it was good to see him out there and helping out the club.”

Pollock said the decorated season for Geoffroy-Gagnon had a big impact on the club as they all look up to the skier.

Working with him throughout the years, Pollock said the breakout season was well-deserved.

“He deserves everything he got,” Pollock said. “He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen in my entire career coaching. He’s something special, that’s for sure.”

Rounding out the injured reserve list was Tristan Muir, who Pollock said went a little too big on a backflip during the big air on Saturday and broke his collarbone. But he was in good spirits and wasn’t ready to miss the second day of competition entirely – so he was back out the next day to judge.

“Just because we’re broken doesn’t mean we’re not involved,” Pollock said.

Muir also received the Best Yard Sale award – a nicer way of saying best crash – for his backflip effort.

With the help and support of Mount Sima during the busy weekend, Pollock said the injured three were transported to the parks on the hill for the competitions as they were unable to ski themselves.

Sunday’s early morning snowfall had an impact on the slopestyle competition with a slower run and the inability to build speed for all the jumps.

Pollock said the U18 competitors did the first two jumps, instead of all three, with the masters competitors only doing the first jump.

The younger competitors competed in a different park and Pollock said it wasn’t too bad and, for the most part, they were able to maintain speed, but sometimes he had to pull them in to give them more speed going into the next portion of the course.

“We made it work,” he said.

The big air competition on Saturday saw four divisions compete with Ryan McLaren, who Pollock said hasn’t competed in many years, coming out of retirement to win the masters division.

“He’s a really good friend of mine and we’ve been working on a couple of tricks,” Pollock said.

McLaren edged out brothers Miguel and Niko Rodden who finished second and third respectively.

Neil Mikkelson took top spot in the U18 division. Instead of competing in the U12 division, 11-year-old Anwyn Tillett joined the U18 male competition at the request of coach Pollock and finished in a tie for fifth spot.

“She’s competing at a level where we want her to be pushed, not bored,” he said. “If she continues with the sport, she will be competing at a different level where there are no age groups.

“She had a good time and was happy to do it.”

The plan was for her to compete in the same division for slopestyle on Sunday, but because of the bad weather conditions, Tillett competed in the U12 female division placing first.

She was joined by Sapphira Oeitli and Isabella Gallina, who Pollock said are on the younger team and it was great for them to participate and see what a competition is like before travelling for a competitive event.

Pollock said the championships was the final competition of the season for team as they head into the off-season, with some of the skiers going to training camps in Whistler during the summer.

“I think they’re sick of hearing my voice,” Pollock said with a laugh. “They’ll take a little time to just hang out and dream about next year.”

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