Park City & Deer Valley

Canadians Grab Gold & American Hudak Snags Silver

Mother Nature put her stamp on the 2011 Freestyle World Ski Championships ski halfpipe competition Saturday morning at Park City Mountain Resort.

Amid blustery winds and blowing snow, the halfpipe competitors had to endure harsh conditions in the pipe. Salt Lake City resident Jennifer Hudak, 24, who won the silver medal, said the winds were so strong it was hard for her to keep complete control.

"We actually get blown into the middle of the pipe," Hudak said.

In the end, the Canadians continued their week-long domination earning two gold medals with Rosalind Groenewoud winning women's gold and Mike Riddle earning gold in the men's final.

Canada went on to win nine of a possible 12 gold medals over the four-day event.

"It feels awesome," Groenewoud said. "I'm definitely a proud Canadian. I'm super happy to win today."

Each of the 12 finalists took two runs each, and were able to take the better of their two judged scores.

Groenewoud finished with a women's best 44.70 on her second run, while Riddle finished with a men's best 45.60, barely edging France's Kevin Rolland, who ended the day with the silver medal and a high score of 45.20.

American Simon Dumont earned the bronze medal with a first-run score of 43.20. Dumont was the last competitor who could have bested Riddle's 45.60 score, but suffered a fall early on in his second run.

Hudak's silver medal second run was scored a 42.10, while Canadian Keltie Hansen won women's bronze with her 38.80 first run.

Groenewoud said PCMR's 22-foot halfpipe is traditionally top-notch, but temperate conditions before Saturday helped compound the bad conditions once the freezing winds picked up during the finals.

"I'd say usually it's the best in the world, but because of the warm weather before this event, it was not quite as big as it usually is," she said.

Groenewoud, who grew up in Southern Alberta, credited the Canadian halfpipe gold sweep to an impressive freestyle support system in Canada that has helped skiers begin practicing freestyle from a very young age and said there's an, "awesome grass roots freestyle community in Canada."

Her 44.70 second run was the same run she did at the X Games and Grand Prix in December.

Hudak said her fall was frustrating because she prefers to have a solid first run before being able to go all out in a second run. One of her skis caught on edge at the beginning of her first run which led to her fall.

"If we make a mistake, we have a second chance," she said.

Her 900 tailgrab and 720-spin on her second run was good enough for silver, but not enough to eclipse Groenewoud's 44.70.

Ski halfpipe is being considered for possible inclusion for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, and Hudak said that while the conditions were less than desirable, she hoped the Olympic Committee representatives enjoyed what they were able to see Saturday.

"We just all wanted to come out and put on a good show for everyone," she said. "Hopefully people are enjoying it and seeing we're doing incredible things on skis. Hopefully we'll have a shot at 2014 in Sochi."

The gold medalist Groenewoud wasn't coy when asked about her sport.

"We're definitely on top of freestyle right now," she said.

by Christopher Kamrani OF THE RECORD STAFF : The Park Record

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