Before the awards ceremony following the Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships at Mt. Sima on Saturday, there was little question of who had won the open men’s division.
As expected, Whitehorse’s Miguel Rodden, who was defending his title from last year, further cemented his status as the Yukon’s best freestyle skier with a first-place finish, completing a corked 900 - that’s two-and-a-half rotations landing backwards - on his final run.
“I feel really good, I had a lot of fun and it was a fun event,” said Rodden. “It was fun being around my friends and having a good time.”
The Yukon Freestyle Ski Team member also turned things up with a 360 nose tap on the hitching-post and 360 switch-up on the box - both firsts for Rodden in competition.
Taking second was teammate James Boyle and Steven Harlow finished in third.
In the junior boys’ division, Josh Harlow claimed the top spot with a 720 - landing it in competition for the first time - and a frontside-270 off the rail.
Taking second was Calahan Guidolin, ahead of Etienne Geoffroy in third.
In the girls’ division Hanna Milner beat out Dawn Bohner in second.
At the Canada Winter Games five weeks ago in Nova Scotia, Rodden took sixth in the aerials, 15th in the dual moguls and 16th in the halfpipe.
Rodden also won a silver medal in slopestyle and in the half-pipe at the Arctic Winter Games last year in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Six members of the Yukon Freestyle Ski Team, including Rodden, Boyle, Steven Harlow, Josh Harlow, Geoffroy and Guidolin, will be competing at the BC Provincial Championships this weekend. At last year’s BC Championships in Silverstar, Rodden finished fourth in the slopestyle.
“I’m really excited,” said Rodden of the BC Championships. “It’s going to be more of a challenge than here, but it’s going to be fun.”
“I’m pretty pumped,” said Josh Harlow. “It’s going to be scary - big jumps.”
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com