Skip to content

Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon achieves another goal with NorAm Cup win in Calgary

“My mom came out to watch that and that was great”
15719459_web1_18125_YKN_Sports_SlopestyleYYC_Web
Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon, seen here competing in 2016, won gold in the men’s slopestyle event at the NorAm Cup event in Calgary on Feb. 10. (Submitted/Yukon News)

It was a successful February for Whitehorse’s Etienne Geoffroy-Gagnon.

The freestyle skier was busy with NorAm Cup events in Calgary and Aspen, Colo., where he finished with a win and a pair of top 10s.

Geoffroy-Gagnon won the Calgary slopestyle competition on Feb. 10 with an 86.91 score.

Second spot went to American Tim Ryan with an 82.41 and third spot was Canadian Edouard Therriault with an 82.33.

Winning Calgary was something Geoffroy-Gagnon said he’s been hoping to do for a number of years.

“I’ve been doing the Calgary NorAm every year,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “It’s an event I love doing and all the Americans come up for it. It felt really good to win that.”

Geoffroy-Gagnon said conditions were cold, but nothing outside of what he is used to, and that the level was not far off what he has been seeing at World Cup events.

“It was almost the level of a World Cup where everyone there was really going for it,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “It was really cool to see and it pushed me to ski at my best. My mom came out to watch that and that was great.”

The next weekend, he was in Aspen competing in slopestyle on Feb. 25 and big air on Feb. 26.

Geoffroy-Gagnon finished 10th overall in slopestyle and 10th in big air.

He said it was tough to slip down the leader board after qualifying in first for the slopestyle competition.

“I skied really well in (qualifications) and got a score of 93, I think, on my second run,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon, noting that was his highest-ever score. “It was on the same course as the X-Games, which was also very cool to see and very cool to experience.”

The slopestyle course was indentical to the X-Games this year — usually the jumps are the same but the rails are different — so Geoffroy-Gagnon said it was a good omen to put down such a strong run, even if it was in qualifying.

“It was definitely pretty cool to feel it out and know that if it did come down to having to put down a run and being invited to X-Games, I’d be able to do it and that I have the tricks for it,” he said. “It’s a good confidence booster for sure.”

Next up for Geoffroy-Gagnon is the World Cup slopestyle competition at Mammoth Mountain in California, followed by a World Cup slopestyle event in Quebec City and the final World Cup slopestyle event in Switzerland.

“I’m definitely looking to get a top 10,” said Geoffroy-Gagnon. “I haven’t really been looking too far past making finals and that would be cool — to be able to put it down in qualifications and then put it down like I want to in finals and hopefully end up with a top 10 result.”

Contact John Hopkins-Hill at john.hopkinshill@yukon-news.com