Yukon freestyle skiing athlete Mavik MacKinnon is carving a trail towards qualifying for the Junior Nationals in Alberta after securing two silver medals at the BC Timber Tour series events from Jan. 23 to 26.
The 14-year-old landed strong runs during the slopestyle and big air freestyle events at the Timber Tour in Fernie, B.C., earning enough International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) points to be on track to qualify for the Junior Nationals at the Calgary Olympic Park from March 12 to 16.
"I'd say I'm pretty well on track because usually they take your three highest scores in an event from the year, and I already have two solid scores from Fernie," MacKinnon said
MacKinnon missed gold by a razor edge margin of 0.2 points at the Timber Tour's slopestyle event, a freestyle discipline judged on manoeuvrability, amplitude, variety and execution of tricks on a course layered with obstacles and rails. He secured another solid run during the big air event, earning silver in a discipline judged on height, technicality of tricks performed and execution.
"You need to collect points from other competitions in order to qualify. Competing in provincial-level events, like the Timber Tour, helps you collect these points. Then, a few people in B.C. with the most points are chosen to go to national competitions," MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon recently returned from the Sun Peaks Canada Cup, held from Feb. 5 to 9 just outside Kamloops, B.C. He told the News that the events were not divided into age categories, and he faced challenging competition against athletes older than him.
"Canada Cups are definitely more challenging than Timber Tours because there's no age categories, so I'm competing against like 19 year-olds," MacKinnon said.
The B.C. Timber Tour is expected to hold another Shred Series provincial level competition from Feb. 20 to 23 which MacKinnon has on his itinerary of competitive events for the season, he said. The Freestyle Canada sanctioned event will feature several disciplines of freestyle competitive events that athletes are expected to compete in.
MacKinnon finished eighth out of 14 competitors in the moguls time trial event in Fernie, B.C., which is a freestyle skiing discipline requiring athletes to navigate a steep hill while avoiding bumps and crevices on the course. According to MacKinnon, athletes need to secure at least two high ranking slopestyle scores to qualify for the Junior Nationals.
"You need at least two slopestyle scores, and the third can be either big air or slopestyle. So, you could have two slopestyles and one big air, or three slopestyles. Your three best scores are the ones that count for the qualification," MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon told the News that he is coached through Freestyle Whistler, a non-profit ski club based in B.C., but had recently joined Freestyle Yukon and trains with them in addition to being coached in B.C. He added that the decision to join the Whistler club was influenced by the number of competitions the club enters and the ease of finding a coach.
"I have separate coaches in Whistler, but Yukon doesn't attend as many competitions because they don't get spots due to the temperature and not being part of B.C. So, I mostly stay with the Whistler team, but when I'm here, I train with Yukon," MacKinnon said.
"I normally make three or four trips down to B.C. in the winter, and I usually train once in the summer on water ramps, where you ski and land in a big pool for practice."
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
