By Derek Yavis/Special to the Times Review
Revelstoke skiers had a strong showing Thursday at the qualifiers for the 2012 stop of the Freeskiing World Tour, with four of them making it through to the competition.
Lauren Goss, Jason Jones, Sean Cochrane, and Rylan Kappler moved on, joining Leah Evans and Nicole Derksen Friday in North Bowl at Revelstoke Mountain Resort for day one of the competition.
Alexis Dupont from Snowbird, Utah, qualified first amongst the women and Benjamin Ogilvie from Fernie, B.C., was tops amongst the men.
Only four women (out of 23) and 13 men (out of 62) qualified for the competition, which begins Friday at 10 a.m., and can be easily viewed from the top of the Ripper Chair.
Goss had a very strong run top to bottom and her fourth place finish gives her the opportunity to ski among some of the world’s best female skiers, including 2011 tour champion Angel Collinson.
Rylan Kappler skied a fast, fluid, aggressive line, and really forced the judges hands with a fifth place finish. Sean Cochrane picked a solid line and skied it hard, good enough for a 12th place, right behind Jason Jones who really showed off his skills this afternoon.
Both the men’s and women’s fields were stacked with competitive skiers, including Fernie’s Luke Nelson, Whistler’s Kasie Stroshin, and Dupont, who were ranked 32nd, 26th and 17th respectively in the 2011 FWT final standings.
Unlike last year the weather co-operated, and tour organizers were able to complete the men and women all in one day.
Amongst other local skiers, Kim Bastedo had a very solid run but just missed the cut with finishing sixth, and Zoya Lynch finished the day in 11th. For the men, Brett Dawley had a smart and fast run – good enough to put him into 30th, and New Zealander and Revelstoke resident Simon Reeves ended the day in 46th. RMR ski patroller J.J. Vinet came flying out of the gates with a fast, and challenging line. Unfortunately, he went down and had to settle with 47th place.
Day one of the competition takes place in North Bowl starting at 10 a.m. on Friday. The qualifiers join a field of the top 25 skiers from both the Freeride and Freeskiing World Tours. They will compete for a spot in the finals, which take place on Sunday.
The complete results can be viewed at the Freeskiing World Tour website.