TOP FIVE FRIDAYS: JANUARY 24, 2020
#1: FIS World Cup Ski Racing Recap: This Week's Lesson: Every Hundredth of a Second Matters
Frederica Brignone, Petra Vlhova, and Mikaela Shiffrin, who all finished within 0.01 seconds of each other in last week's Giant Slalom race. Source: Mikaela Shiffrin on Facebook
Well, we would say it was a weird week in ski racing, but at some point this season it appears as though what once felt weird has become the norm. What exactly do we mean? Well, let’s start with last week’s women’s GS race in Sestriere, Italy, where Frederica Brignone and Petra Vlhova tied for first place, while Mikaela Shiffrin finished .01 seconds behind, taking third place. In other words, that race featured three athletes finishing within one one hundredth of a second of each other. That alone is a mind boggling statistic to try and comprehend. A day later, the wackiness of the weekend continued as the first ever women’s Parallel Giant Slalom event was hosted. In that event, Shiffrin qualified first, but ultimately finished in 9th place after losing to eventual victor Clara Direz in the round of 8. If that difference in results feels weird to you, you’re not alone. In the aftermath of the event, there was plenty of talk about whether the format was fair as only three skiers on the red course won, while 17 skiers from the blue course won. We don’t have the capacity to delve too deeply into the details here, but you can read all about it in this recap from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team. For now, just know that even the winner of the event, Clara Direz, is quoted as saying, “I don’t know if it’s really really fair or not.” Looking ahead, we’ll briefly note that Mikaela Shiffrin is off to a strong start for this weekend’s races in Bansko as she’s just finished first in a Downhill race held earlier today. We’ll recap that as well as the Super G scheduled for Sunday in next week’s news. To check out the full Bansko schedule, click here.
On the men’s side, things were a bit more subdued, although the U.S. team continued to sprinkle in results despite missing out on a podium finish. Leading that charge was Bryce Bennett who finished 14th in an Alpine Combined event, 14th in a Downhill race, and 7th in another Downhill. Also of note was Ryan Cochran-Siegle who finished 19th in the Alpine Combined, as well as 14th and 15th in the two Downhill races. This weekend, the men’s circuit is in Kitzebuehel, Austra for a Super G, Downhill, and Slalom race. To see the complete schedule, click here.
#2: The 2020 Freeride World Tour Kicked Off in Hakuba, Japan:
Speaking of competition results, we’re extremely excited to be able to bring you a recap of the first stop on the 2020 Freeride World Tour! Coming in hot on the heels of last week’s exciting announcement that the FWT has decided to grant equal prize money to male and female athletes, the tour itself kicked off last week in Hakuba, Japan. Those who have watched the tour in previous years already know that Hakuba is one of the most exciting venues for athletes as it provides an incredible mix of terrain, allowing for both technical lines as well as trickable features. This year, despite questionably flat light, the athletes took advantage of the equal opportunities provided by the mountain and put down runs that had everything from gnarly chutes and cliffs, to massive spine gaps and huge backflips. For those of you interested in watching the event with all of the suspense of a first time viewer, we recommend pressing play on the video above before reading on as we’ll be listing the results next. If that’s the route you choose, the men’s ski event starts at 32:57, and the women start at 1:37:15.
Now, let’s talk results. On the men’s side of things, we had Drew Tabke taking home first place, followed by Hank Bilous and Reine Barkered. While it goes without saying, Tabke’s run was easily the most impressive of the day as he stitched together numerous straight airs in which he remained entirely in control, as well as an extra large sized backflip and a technical drop, ultimately combing all of the elements judges were looking for in a winning run. For those wondering about freeski legends Tanner Hall and Tim Durtschi, here’s our quick report: Tanner was on his way to what would’ve been a potential podium finish when he found himself off balance before ultimately crashing. Durtschi on the other hand managed to stay upright, however his run took a more streamlined approach, favoring speed and flow over technical lines and quantity of hits. As a result, Durtschi’s scored earned him 8th place.
On the women’s side of things, Hedvig Wessel took home first place, followed by Arianna Tricomi in second and Elisabeth Gerritzen in third. Again, just like the men’s competition, Hedvig’s winning run stood out as she combined a number of high speed turns with technical drops and an absolutely massive backflip off a feature that had managed to elude attention from the first three divisions. It should also be noted that Emma Patterson was also in the midst of a very solid performance before taking a tomahawking tumble at the bottom of the course. Assuming she’s well enough to continue the tour, she’ll certainly be a name to watch moving forward. And with that, we conclude our recap of the first stop of the 2020 Freeride World Tour! Looking ahead, the next stop is scheduled for the week of February 6-12th in Kicking Horse, British Columbia. We’ll plan on covering that action once it goes down in just a few weeks. For now, check in with Freeride World Tour to fill in whatever gaps we’ve left you with.
#3: The 2020 Aspen X Games Are Upon Us::
As the saying goes, “sometimes these things happen.” This week, the thing that’s happening is competition news as we’re eager to jump into a preview of the 2020 Aspen X Games, already underway and scheduled to last through this weekend. First, let’s recap what’s already gone down. This year, the X-Games kicked things off with the Special Olympics Unified Ski and Snowboard event, and the brand new Ski Knuckle Huck. Of these two events, the Special Olympics Unified Ski event was held first and consisted of two person teams made up of one professional freeskier, and one Special Olympian. The format of the event is a head to head race in which each team’s freeskiers face off, and the Special Olympian’s face off. Each skier gets two races and their best times are added together. The fastest total time takes home the gold. While it’s admittedly a bit odd to watch freeskiers compete in a race format, the event itself is a great way to set the tone for the games for the rest of the weekend. This year, Gus Kenworthy and Special Olympian Palmer Lyons took home first for the ski division.
Moving right along, we’re particularly excited to recap the Ski Knuckle Huck event. For those who haven’t kept up with freeskiing in recent years, there’s been a growing trend in both skiing and snowboarding of athletes skipping the jump and instead opting to simply throw tricks off the knuckle. While it may sound tame, the reality is that these tricks are often incredibly creative and technically difficult. As such, seeing the niche grow into a full competition is an intriguing development and one that we were eager to watch. Fortunately, the excitement didn’t disappoint. When all was said and done, Colby Stevenson took home first, while Henrik Harlaut grabbed second and Quinn Wolferman brought home third. To watch the event in full, simply scroll down and check out this week’s edits. On a closing note, shot out to Henrik Harlaut for his insane nose butter / switch front flip combo, which was nothing short of jaw-dropping.
Looking ahead, the meat of the games is yet to come. Tonight, both the men and women will compete in the Big Air contest. Tomorrow, the men will take on the Slopestyle event at 2:30 EST and the women will compete in Superpipe at 8:30 EST. Finally, on Sunday, the games will wrap up with women’s Slopestyle at 2:00 EST, and men’s Superpipe at 9:00 EST. To see a full schedule of events, check out the official X-Games website.
#4: The Ski Scheme of the Century: Details From the Multi-Million Dollar Aspen Ski Theft:
Derek Johnson's mug shot. Image viaAspen Daily News
Finally, we close this week with some non-competition news. As you may have read back in April, a former Aspen Ski Co. executive had been accused of stealing and reselling approximately $2.4m in retail and rental skis from the resort. This week, he was sentenced to 6 years in prison for the scheme. Coinciding with that update, the Colorado Sun has published yet another fantastic article detailing the before, during, and after of the scandal. As per usual, that article is worth reading in its entirety, but we’ll do our best to summarize the highlights here. In short, there are a few key pieces of information to know about this story. First, the man accused and eventually found guilty of the theft is Derek Johnson, a man who was on the city council for four years, ran for mayor in 2013, coached local football teams, and started D&E Snowboard Shop, which was ultimately sold to Aspen. In other words, Johnson was a well known, typically respected member of the community. In addition to these things, Johnson was also the head of Aspen’s retail and rental operation, putting him in a position where he could syphon both new and used skis and resell them on eBay. At the height of his racket, Johnson sold $458,819 worth of skis in just one year. When all was said and done, Johnson was able to operate the scheme for 12 years and sold over $3m in gear. Now, after pleading guilty, he finds himself sentenced to 6 years in prison. Again, there’s plenty of other interesting details in this story, such as how Johnson was able to obtain these skis, and how he got away with it. For those details, we’ll turn you over to the Colorado Sun.
#4.5: Bonus Highlight: January is Volkl Month in SkiEssentials.com's 2020 Ski Happy Contest!
