Yukon’s top freestyle skiers have been flying high all season, literally and figuratively.
Members of the Yukon Freestyle Ski Team won hardware at three major events last month and each medal marked a first for the Yukon Freestyle Ski Association.
The territory’s cream of the crop continued to soar during the 2013 Yukon Freestyle Ski Championships at Mount Sima on Saturday.
Whitehorse’s Josh Harlow dropped some jaws with some big tricks in the slopestyle competition.
Harlow, who won the Yukon its first-ever medal at the national level last month, landed a corked 900 and a switch 540 on his way to first in the open men division.
“Everyone was just blown away because no one expected a big trick like that to be thrown on such small jumps,” said Yukon coach Steven Harlow. “I can’t believe he actually landed it, to be honest.
“He pulled out a trick that no one was even thinking about throwing because the way the jumps were. He decided to do it anyway.”
Yukon teammate Etienne Geoffrey-Gagnon placed second with a right-side 360 followed by a left-side 720 with a blunt tail grab on the jumps.
Aiden Allen, another team skier, launched into third with a 540 to a switch 540 on the second jump, “and he went huge, absolutely huge, on the switch 540 on the second jump,” said Steven.
Allen won silver in slopestyle at the B.C. Freestyle Ski Championships last month. Allen’s silver was the first medal won by a Yukon male at the championships.
Sara Burke-Forsyth flew to gold in the open female division.
“She hit the two big jumps and went huge on both of them and that’s the reason she took first,” said Steven, who was also a judge at the competition.
Dawn Bohmer placed second in open female and Lyndsey Boorse took third. Boorse won gold at the B.C. Freestyle Ski Championships last month. Boorse’s medal was the first gold won by a Yukon female at the event.
Team member Kyran Allen snagged first in the male 13-15 division, hitting a 720 with a blunt tailgrab.
Niko Rodden, who skied to an eighth place finish at the B.C. championships, took second behind Allen.
A big air competition followed the slopestyle on Saturday.
Geoffroy-Gagnon, who produced a seventh place finish at nationals, took first, nailing a switch 900 with a tail grab.
Josh Harlow had difficulties landing a switch double rodeo 1080 cleanly, but it was enough for second ahead of Aiden Allen.
Josh won a bronze in the big air for the Yukon’s first medal at the Canadian Junior Freestyle Ski Championships last month and also placed seventh in slopestyle in M2 (ages 16-18).
A week earlier he placed third to win his team its first medal at a Canadian Shield Ski and Snowboard Tour event in North Vancouver.
“I’ve never heard of results like this coming out of the Yukon for skiing ever,” said Steven.
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Slopestyle results
Open male
1st Josh Harlow
2nd Etienne Geoffrey-Gagnon
3rd Aiden Allen
4th Calahan Guidolin
5th Sam Schirmer
Open female
1st Sara Burke-Forsyth
2nd Dawn Bohmer
3rd Lyndsey Boorse
Male 13-15
1st Kyran Allen
2nd Niko Rodden
3rd Allen Mark
4th Ian Hansen
5th Flynn Krabel
6th Cole Sinclair
7th Kenton Benoit
Male under-12
1st Jacob Finton
2nd Euyn Dinn
3rd Cole Beaman
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com