Another field of 12 skiers hit the Super Streetstyle course tonight, running the same format as the other Streetstyle events. It had been snowing here pretty much all day, and the crew had been working nonstop to keep this course in the best condition possible for the women.
The first heat of tonight’s event was made up of Lisa Zimmermann, Shonny Charbonneau, Alexa Juncaja, and Alice Michel.
Lisa started us off with a bang with a huge initial score of 91.33. She earned this with a super clean run. Getting 270 both ways in the top sections, a big disaster in the middle, and a solid pretz 270 out in the bottom.
Shonny took a pretty big slam in her first run. She initially made it through the upper sections of the course pretty cleanly, but the wall ride at the bottom proved too slick with that fresh layer of snow.
She looked a lot more comfortable in her second run, catching a clean blind 270, and taking it back to the top of the wall ride. This run gave her an even 80, but there were still 2 more competitors to take their final turn in this heat.
Alexa’s second run was for sure an improvement on her first. Starting off with a frontside switch-up transfer to front 270 out, switch lip onto the down, and back 270 out on the bottom kink. This earned her an 86.33, which pushed Shoney out, and Alexa in.
Shoney’s final run in this round was her chance to get some of that Papa John’s “Flip it Award” money, tossing out a solid frontflip right in front of the crowd down below.
Liza and Alexa’s scores from this round would be more than enough to push them through to the head-to-head round.
Our second heat was comprised of Tereza Korabova, Brook Potter, Drew Hooker, and Skye Clarke.
In her first run, Sky Clarke laced up a super clean run. Front switch up, switch 270, and finally, a front 270 out to bolts. This earned her a slick 83.66, setting herself atop the boards for this heat.
Drew’s second run would be a major improvement on her first. Switch Back 270 out in the top section, and a clean front 270 out of the death kink rail at the bottom would give her a score of 80, momentarily moving her up to the #2 spot in this heat.
Tereza’s second run would also provide an upgrade to her score. An 81 would be enough to push Drew down to the third spot by just 1 point, a deficit that Drew would not be able to overcome in her final run.
Our third and final heat in this first round was made up of Marion Balsamo, Ellie Derosier, Audrey Friess, and Cattylou Agnew.
Marion would take the first run of this third heat, and took the chance to put herself in a good spot with an even 80. Her blind switch up to front 270 out, and then her front switch up pretz 270 out in the bottom section were the biggest help here.
Audrey put together a great run. Riding each rail to their end and pulling off a big backslide in the middle section provided her a 76 here, placing herself in a position to move on to the next round.
Cattylou also put together a great run, a super stylish lip 270 on up in the top section, and a sweet blind 270 out down a little lower. This would score her a 74.66, but it wouldn’t be enough to push her to the next round.
Ellies third and final run in this round would provide for her in a major way. She nailed some of her more technical tricks on this run, which would propel her up to second place, leaving it all up to Audrey to reclaim her spot.
On her last run of this round, Audrey found herself on the outside looking in after Ellies solid run just before her. Audrey took the first two rails pretty easily, but let it all fly in a wild cork 540 she threw off a lip. She couldn’t hold onto it, but man that was so awesome to watch. This was honestly one of the most electrifying moments of the weekend, and deserves a view in the video recap if you didn’t get to see it live.
Onto the second round
First heat
With our new first heat, Lisa put down two very solid runs complete with a couple of super clean switch-ups in the top section. An 86 was the score she got from these two runs.
Tereza Struggled a little in both of her runs here, gave it a shot with some relatively technical tricks, but had a tough time bringing it all in and putting up a set of runs good enough to beat Lisa.
Second heat
Ellie dove into her bag for her first run in this second round. Showing us a clean blind 270 out, front switch up, and a nice lofty front 270 out on the bottom death kink. Unfortunately, she couldn’t improve on her second run and found herself bobbling a little on her blind switch-up.
Skys came into her next run with noticeably more pace. With that extra pace, she pulled out a huge transfer disaster, and front 270 out. This run, and the clean run she laid down previously helped her earn an 83, just edging out the 80 awarded to Elie in this round.
Third heat.
Marion pulled technical tricks out right from the get-go.. the back side switch up front 270 out front switch up prez 270 out in the bottom section.
Alexa struggled a little in the upper section, going for that transfer but really not sliding it to the end. She did, however end this run very strongly, with a blind 270 out on the death kink and stomping it pretty confidently.
Marion once again stepped it up a notch with the clean transfer in the second section, and spinning front 450 out.
Alexa would look to take Marion out in this final run, and definitely gave it a good shot. Her front switch-up pretz 270 out of the transfer was probably one of the more technical tricks we saw tonight, and she finished her run with a solid front 270 out on the death kink down below.
It was close, but Marion would maintain her spot moving on to the next round, beating out Alexa by 4 points, 80 to 74.
We then found ourselves in the finals. Sky Clarke, Marion Balsamo, and Lisa Zimmerman would be duking it out for the top spot.
Marion once again starts it off so strong, blind switch-up continuing 270 out, and a clean frontside switch-up to switch in the bottom section.
Lisa then swung back with an awesome left 270 on continuing 450 out in the second section, and finishing it off with a front switch-up pretzel 270 out on the bottom section. For sure a run that would give Marion a run for her money, and it certainly did. Liza put herself in a comfortable position up in 1st place with a score of 95 from this run.
Sky Would look to redeem herself from her first run in this round. She tossed out a solid switch 270 on to switch in the second section and tried to cap the run off with a front 270 out in the bottom section, but she just couldn’t get it to stick.
Marion would have one last stab at the 1st place spot, and she certainly gave it a stellar shot. Backside switch-up front 270 out in the top section, and was so close to lacing up a blindside 360 switch-up in the bottom section.
This gave Lisa the final run, and for her, it would be a factory lap.
After the award ceremony, I chatted with Marion about how she keeps herself cool and collected when the pressure is on to put on a winning run.
M Balsamo: “I kinda try not to think about the scores and just think about what I need to do in my run. Like I know I can improve certain things in my runs that I need to do. So just skiing for the skiing, and trying to not think about the scores”
I also chatted with our winner Lisa Zimmerman. When asked if she has any one trick or type of move down that can help keep her ahead in competition, she had this to say.
L Zimmermann: “I mean, I think I have some good tricks, but then when I usually do the plan, it never works. So then I usually go for my like easier tricks. And yeah, I don’t know”… “I haven’t really done the training because I had to take a couple of days off because of my neck. And I was really stressed because I hadn’t ridden all the features and I didn’t know what to do but I had to jump in and it was like, I don’t know what to do.”
Women’s Ski Super Streetstyle Results
1.) Lisa Zimmermann, 95.00
2.) Marion Balsamo, 76.33
3.) Skye Clarke, 27.66
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