If you were up on the slopes at PCMR (or if you were driving by and happened to look up at the mountain) you probably saw some serious athletes shredding the Eagle Superpipe and King’s Crown Slopestyle course. The 2015 Sprint Snowboarding and Freeskiing Grand Prix was in town, and the athletes put on an awesome show of athleticism and guts that was so exciting to watch. We were able to go up and watch a few of the finals events, and were even lucky enough to host some of the athletes at the store for a little pump-up party!
In case you weren’t able to get up to the mountain and catch a glimpse of the action, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a recap of what went down – be sure to look out for Park City’s own Joss Christensen and Mcrae Williams, as well as a few other athletes who brought home medals from the Sochi Olympics last year!
In snowboarding slopestyle, the USA put 3 men on the podium! HUGE congratulations especially to Eric Willett and Eric Beauchemin who took first and third! We got to meet the two Erics earlier in the week at our “Grand Pre” Party for the athletes, and were stoked to see them tear up the park. On the women’s side, Karly Shorr took second for the US, while Cherelyn Maas from the Netherlands took first, and Swiss Elena Koenz was third.
The Freeskiing slopestyle finals were a celebrity-studded event featuring 2 Sochi Olympic medalists, and several Park City local athletes! On the women’s side, Sochi silver medalist Devin Logan took second, flanked by Swedish Emma Dahlstrom who took first, and Swedish Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen in bronze. Men’s was again a USA sweep! Joss Christensen and Mcrae Williams are both Park City guys, and took first and second. Joss pulled off an incredible final run to secure the top spot, and reminded us of the skill that won him a gold medal in Sochi last year. Gus Kenworthy took third, also putting up a great few runs.
In the skiing halfpipe event Saturday, Gus Kenworthy made a big appearance again, and took first! He was followed by French Kevin Rolland in second, and US Freeskiing teammate David Wise in bronze. On the women’s side, Ayana Onozuka from Japan won, Sabrina Cakmaki of Germany and Janina Kuzma of New Zealand followed up.
Snowboarding pipe finals were another incredible show, and China had a great showing for both men and women. Yiwei Zhang won on the men’s side, followed by USA’s Taylor Gold and Australian Kent Callister. The USA nabbed the top two spots on the women’s side. Kelly Clark and Arielle Gold were joined on the podium by Xuetong Cai from China.
At lululemon, we were so excited for the chance to cheer on our local athletes, as well those who train here most of the year with US Freeskiing and Snowboarding. We are continually amazed by the work these athletes put in, and by their incredible courage and style. We want to congratulate all the athletes who competed this weekend, and we can’t wait to watch again next year!
All photos courtesy of www.irideparkcity.com
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