The 2023 Yukon Canada Cup freestyle ski competition has ended after dozens of skiers competed in the slopestyle and big air disciplines at Mount Sima.
A total of 72 athletes took part at the competition organized by the Yukon Freestyle Ski Association in partnership with Freestyle Canada. The national competition ran from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3.
Along with three Yukon skiers, athletes came from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
In the women’s big air event, Avery Krumme from Whistler Freestyle finished in first place while Evelyn Mullie and Carolina Maria Vitale Cesa, both from Calgary Freeriderz, secured second and third respectively.
Meanwhile, in the men’s big air event, Matthew Lepine from Ontario Park and Pipe came first, Avery Macyk from Calgary Freeriderz came second while Quinlan McManus from Ontario Park and Pipe came third.
The slopestyle women’s category had Ayden Fraser from Calgary Freeriderz in first place while Krumme and Mullie finished in second and third place respectively.
In the men’s slopestyle, Drew Christensen from BC Park and Pike finished in first. Both Macyk and McManus found themselves in second and third place respectively once again in slopestyle.
Three Yukoners: Jason McKay, 18; Jacob Robertson, 16; and Charlie Fidler, 16, also competed.
McKay described the competition as awesome and said he had an amazing time training with the teams from across Canada.
“It was a nice experience and I was impressed with my performance,” he said. “It definitely wasn’t the result I was looking for but I was happy with the result I got. All that matters is that I had fun while doing it.”
In the men’s big air event McKay placed 29th out of 54. And in the slopestyles, he placed 39th out of 54.
“I want to improve on getting tricks consistently, especially the rails. I had a bit of trouble on the rails in my slopestyle run. So that’s definitely an area I want to improve on.”
Robertson said the competition was fun but he didn’t perform well as he crashed in both runs. He placed 45 out of 54 in the slopestyle event and didn’t compete in big air.
He told the News he wants to be able to land his run and make the finals at the next Canada Cup.
Fiddler placed 44 out of 54 in the big air and 41 out of 54 in the slopestyle category.
“The competition went well,” he said. “I didn’t exactly get the rail line that I would have wanted. Conditions were a little bit snowy, so that’s always a challenge and I definitely could have gone a little bit more difficult on the jumps but overall, I think it went OK.”
Yukon Freestyle Ski Association president Stephanie Robertson described the Canada Cup at Sima as a really great event.
She said she is “super proud of [the Yukon skiers] because they tried really hard.”
She noted 350 people attended the Dec. 1 big air event at Mount Sima.
“It was probably one of the best competitions run so far as the Canada Cup,” she said. “There were a couple of injuries which prevented some from participating. The competition ran really well.”
She said the skiing season is just getting started with a lineup of activities for the year. The Yukon Championships will take place in Whitehorse in the first weekend of March. Freestyle skiers from the territory will also travel to Sun Peaks Resort in British Columbia in January and Horseshoe Resort in Ontario in March for the Canada Cup series. The junior nationals will take place in Calgary in March, while the senior nationals will take place in Whistler, B.C. in April.
Robertson said four athletes from the territory will be participating in the junior nationals while another three will be at the senior nationals.
Contact Patrick Egwu at patrick.egwu@yukon-news.com
