Guerlain Chicherit and Crystal Wright clinch victory at Red Bull Powder Disorder
France’s Guerlain Chicherit and America’s Crystal Wright took top honours in the men’s and women’s field respectively at the Red Bull Powder Disorder, the first stop of the 2011-12 Subaru Freeskiing World Tour, that went down in Las Lenas, Argentina, on
Wednesday, August 10.
The competition was originally scheduled for two days, but the strong winds and poor visibility on Friday cut the event short, leaving the final winners to be determined by the results of Wednesday.
After winning the Freeskiing World Tour in 2006 and 2007, the Tignes-native Chicherit took a break from the Tour for three years. Making a comeback this year with the intention of competing in the entire tour, he was looking to pick it up from right where
he let off. It hardly took him any time to assert his dominance in the contest by throwing an amazing run, which opened up with a front flip off the first jump, to earn a decisive score of 38.27 points.
Talking to a reporter after the fate of the competition was announced, Chicherit said, “It was amazing to be standing at the start and feel so relaxed [after so many years not competing].”
Johnny Collinson finished runner-up after pulling off some stylish airs to collect a score of 31.23 points, showing off the athleticism that had recently put him under the radar. He seemed to have matured a lot and looked more in control of his tricks than
ever before.
The third place was nabbed by Julien Lopez, who threw off stylish manoeuvres during his run to earn 31.17 points for the effort, missing out on second place due to a mere 0.06-point deficit.
In the women’s field, the Jackson Hole-based Wright managed to come up with the most superior performance of the day to earn 29.47 points, sealing the fate of the contest in her favour. Once again, she had done justice to her reputation of being an extremely
steady and consistent athlete. She referred to the successful result as a huge confidence booster after recovering from a broken fibula a few months ago. However, she also felt disappointed that the event could not continue on Friday as per the original schedule.
The winner of 2010 Freeskiing World Tour, Angel Collinson, seemed determined to get off to a perfect start, but had to settle for second place after finishing with a score of 27.50 points. Rebecca Selig landed herself in the Top 3 after coming up with an
impressive performance to earn 26.07 points.
The second stop of the Freeskiing World Tour, the Chilean Freeskiing Championships, will be bringing the freeskiers to Valle El Arpa in Chile and is scheduled to run from August 18 to 21.
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