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CRAIG GARBIEL AND LAURA OGDEN WIN THE 11TH ANNUAL SUBARU NORTH AMERICAN FREESKIING CHAMPIONSHIPS AT KIRKWOOD MTN. RESORT, CA.
Story by Cara Williams
Photos by Keith Carlsen/MSI
Jess McMillan and Adrien Coirier win overall Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series and Brady Smedsrud wins The North Face Young Gun award
The final stop of the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series and second stop on the International Freeskiers Association (IFSA) World Tour finished off today with an extraordinarily exciting day of skiing on the permanently closed “Cirque” at Kirkwood Mountain Resort, CA. Kirkwood local Craig Garbiel came out on top of the stacked international men’s division and Laura Ogden of Crystal Mtn, WA, took her second straight Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships women’s title. Due to incredibly clear and sunny weather Mountain Sports International (MSI) was able to run a super-final today for the top six women and top 12 men.
Sitting in the top position going into this morning’s first run Laura Ogden was knocked back to second position by Hannah Whitney of Crested Butte, CO, who skied an incredible line which included four big cliff-drops. The remaining top women who advanced to the super-finals were Elyse Saugstad of Squaw Valley, CA, in third, Rachel Burks of Alta, UT, and Jess McMillan tied for fourth. McMillan is the recent winner of the Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open and the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals. Amber Gale of Snowbird, UT, rounded out the top six.
With Gale, McMillan and Whitney all crashing during the super-finals the door was open for Ogden to walk right through and claim her second consecutive title here in Kirkwood. Elyse Saugstad moved up one position to finish in second and Rachel Burks took the final podium spot finishing third overall.
“It feels awesome to win with such a competitive field,” said overall women’s champion Laura Ogden. “It’s great to come back to the series after taking some time off and to win. I love this venue, it scares me to death. To finish like this feels so good.”
Going into this morning’s first men’s run, Mammoth, California’s Cory Zila sat in first position, but a crash early in his line prevented him from making the super-finals which granted a host of hungry competitors the chance to move up. 2006 World Tour Champion Guerlin Chicherit of France skied an incredible line this morning, posting the top score on the run and launching him from 27th position to seventh going into the super-finals. Another first run standout was the Flyin’ Hawaiian Drew Tabke’s 50 foot backflip which he landed with no problem. A fall later in his run would eventually knock him out of the competition. Kirkwood local Craig Garbiel wowed spectators with a nearly flawless run moving him from eighth to first. Todd Ligare of Snowbird, UT, held onto his second position and Adrien Coirier of France moved up to fourth after Josh Daiek of Kirkwood crashed and was unable to advance.
The men’s super-finals today will once again go down as being one of the best in Freeskiing history. Sitting in fifth and fourth positions respectively, Drew Stoeckline of Alta, UT, and Adrien Coirier skied fast, hesitation-free lines. They remained in their respective positions overall. Christian Boucher of Whistler, BC, had an unbelievable second run, nailing each and every aspect he hit. He remained in third place overall. Todd Ligare was sitting in second place going into the super-final, but was knocked back to 10th when he did a somersault upon landing a double-drop. Guerlin Chicherit once again posted the highest score on the final run which was enough to earn him a second place podium position. Leading by over two points Craig Garbiel put on quite a show for his hometown crowd. His run included several 20-feet and beyond cliff-drops which he skied into with no hesitation. The mob went crazy celebrating Garbiel’s obvious victory as he crossed the finish line.
“This is the best thing in the whole world,” said men’s overall champion Craig Garbiel. “Everyone here believes in me. People were telling me I was going to win this last year! I have a load of fourths this year and I thought I was doomed. I’m working with Core Shot Productions on a documentary about this year’s U.S. Freeskiing Series and this has ended like a fairy tale.”
As always, spectators enjoyed watching freeskiing’s elite battle it out for the Tobias Lee Memorial Sickbird buckle award presented by Salomon. The Sickbird award is presented to the competitor with the most spirited competition run, often involving super-human talent and agility. This week’s Sickbird buckle was awarded to Drew Tabke, whose gigantic back-flip will go down as one of the cleanest in competition history.
“This is almost better than the win,” said Sickbird winner Drew Tabke. “The Sickbird is a great award and I am honored to have the chance to wear a buckle.”
The North Face Young Gun Award returns in 2007, honoring outstanding new talent in competitive freeskiing. Points accumulated throughout the season have crowned one lucky under-21-year-old a full sponsorship from The North Face and the honor of becoming the next Young Gun winner. This stop’s winner was 19 year-old Scott McBrayer who finished 12th. The 2007 overall Young Gun winner was 21 year-old Brady Smedsrud of Little Cottonwood, UT.
“I was working toward this all year,” said The North Face Young Gun winner Brady Smedsrud. “I finished top five in a few events this year and I picked up Dynastar and Smith Optics as sponsors but I have been looking for a clothes sponsor for quite a while. I’m excited to be The North Face Young Gun.”
The overall Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series titles were also awarded this evening to Jess McMillan of Jackson Hole, WY, and Adrien Coirier of Les Arcs France. McMillan won both the Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open and the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals.
“I have finished second so many times,” said overall tour winner Jess McMillan. “The World Tour isn’t over, so I’m going to Tignes and I plan on winning the World Tour too. You haven’t seen the last of me yet.”
Adrien Coirier whose early season goal was to win the IFSA World Tour was knocked out of contention when he crashed at the first World Tour stop in Snowbird, UT. Coirier, did win the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open, the Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiing Open and also won the Sickbird buckle at Jackson Hole, WY.
“I am so stoked about the season,” said overall tour winner Adrien Coirier. “I skied all my runs exactly like I wanted to, with the exception of Snowbird where I fell. I spent the whole winter here in the U.S. and was blown away by how the freeskiers on the tour took such good care of me. Next year I’m coming back to win the World Tour, I can’t wait.”
New in 2007, MSI will be posting same-day video broadcasts on the newly redesigned usfreeskiing.com featuring state of the art video and photo player technology. The daily uploads of video, photos, news and results of each day’s competition action will be available mere hours after each day concludes.
The IFSA World Tour finals are set for April 9-13 in Tignes, France. Previous Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series tour stops include the Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open at Jackson Hole, WY, the Subaru US Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, UT, the Subaru Squaw Valley U.S.A Freeskiing Open, at Squaw Valley U.S.A, CA, and the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open at Telluride, CO.
Special thanks to our sponsors:
Subaru of America
The North Face
Corona
Nordica
Yakima
Scott USA
Sports Insurance
Powder Magazine
Emergen-C
Leatherman
Grabber
Ski Press Magazine
IFSA
Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Telluride Ski Resort
Squaw Valley USA
Kirkwood Mountain Resort
For photos, videos, stories, schedules and more information log onto www.usfreeskiing.com
