Yukon freestyle skier Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon skied to his best world cup placement in Seiser Alm, Italy on Saturday. With a score of 79.88, Geoffroy-Gagnon secured sixth place.

"I'm so stoked," said Geoffroy-Gagnon from Whistler. "It was a long couple of days but I put it all together. It was my first top 10 result on a world cup."

He secured a berth in the finals by scoring 81.51 in the qualification runs.

"In qualifying I had a run figured out that I knew I could pump out," said Geoffroy-Gagnon.

On the day of the finals, Geoffroy-Gagnon said the day started out grey with some snow, however, the sun came out during training.

"Everyone was sending it," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "I was just focused on staying calm."

He said making the finals is the most difficult part of a competition and that when you make the finals you take a go big or go home attitude because you can finish no further down the standings as 16th.

"Making it to the finals is the hardest then the pressure kind of goes away," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "You just go for it and don't hold back. I had things I wanted to try."

The finals didn't begin according to plan as he hit the snow on his first run.

"On my first run of finals I had one of the worst crashes of my season," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "I got caught on a wall-ride. That was nerve-wracking.

"Luckily, all was good. I wanted to land that first run but I was able to pump out my second run. I had to keep it more consistent but I got a 79. It was the first time I landed a full run with a triple in it."

Geoffroy-Gagnon explained that you want to hit the first run to go bigger on the second. As well, the first run comes on the heels of training so a skier is warmer. The second run he said you start to cool down and fade out, but you have to push through.

The weekend prior, Geoffroy-Gagnon competed in Font Romeu, France, an event he said didn't go his way.

"I had good training but I skied too hard and competed sore and was less focused," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "Also, my ski bag arrived late so I had to ski with someone else's gear.

"I had to improvise on my first run, but still got a decent amount of points."

He missed the finals in France placing 24th. His teammate and roommate, Mark Hendrickson, came in first.

"It was cool to see him win," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "It's great to be surrounded by such good athletes."

Watching his friend win gave him the motivation to do better in Italy.

"I was really happy for him but bummed at how I performed," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "I see myself in that position. It lights a fire for me to perform better."

In Italy, he got back to what makes him successful on the slopes.

"The first competition you are always on edge," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "In Italy, I got back into my routine and just enjoyed being in the present moment. I was happy to be there and I got back to my roots.

"I just trusted myself. You spend so much time training in the summer that it can be easy to get into the wrong headspace. I just enjoyed the moment."

Geoffroy-Gagnon has two more guaranteed world cups on his schedule. His next event will be in Mammoth, California.

"In Mammoth, I just want to continue to be present and hopefully it works out," said Geoffroy-Gagnon.

Having placed sixth in Italy, Geoffroy-Gagnon is on track to move up to the B team if he gets a similar result. In his next couple of competitions, he is focused on moving up.

After Mammoth, he will have two events in Calgary, a world cup and a NorAm. Depending on how he does over the next couple of weeks, he could have one more world cup in Switzerland.

"I want Switzerland," said Geoffroy-Gagnon. "The course is huge and the level of skiing is high. It's where I need to be to become a better skier."