Record results for Great Britain at World Junior Freestyle Championships.
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The World Junior Freestyle Championships, 26-31 March 2013, held in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy marked the final event of the FIS Freestyle calendar this season. The 17 year old GB Freeski ladies, Rowan Cheshire and Katie Summerhayes stole the show, winning bronze for Great Britain in the Halfpipe and Slopestyle events.
GB Freeski took 5 young British athletes to compete at the World Junior Freestyle Championships: Katie Summerhayes (17, slopestyle), Anna Vincenti (17) Rowan Cheshire (17, halfpipe), Tyler Harding (16, slopestyle) and Joe Hides (17, slopestyle).
GB Freeski Development Squad athlete, Rowan Cheshire, was the first to take home the hardware for Great Britain. Rowan won the bronze medal with a score of 67.8 after two solid runs. Rowan who had just come from the Sierra Nevada World Cup where horrendous weather conditions plagued the event, said of her performance this season:
“This season has been a blast! I’ve had mixed feelings with my results, some I’m super happy with, others I think I could have done better. It’s been super busy. In the last week I have been to Sierra Nevada in Spain for the World Cup and now in Valmalenco, Italy for the Junior World Champs. But I’m really stoked with how the World Juniors went. The pipe was pretty small which meant throwing the tricks a little harder than usual but everything went well in training and then in the competition and ended up placing in 3rd. I’m super stoked”.
GB Freeski’s leading lady and veteran to the podium, Katie Summerhayes, took home GB Freeski’s second medal of the World Junior Freestyle Championships in the slopestyle event. This event saw intense competition and an extremely high caliber of athletes. Lisa Zimmerman of Germany, who recently stunned the world by landing the first ever “double cork 1260” by a female at the Nine Queens competition earlier in the month, proved to be unbeatable at the World Junior Freestyle Championships taking home Gold. Katie Summerhayes had a solid performance which won her Bronze. Up and coming Development Squad athlete Anna Vincenti placed 10th, a great effort for her first ever appearance at a World Cup event.
In the men’s slopestyle, Tyler Harding finished in 20th position, the second top 20 result he has had in the last 2 weeks. Tyler has only been back competing in the last few months after recovering from reconstructive knee surgery over the summer. Although Tyler expressed he wasn’t pleased with his final position at the World Junior Championships, he added:
“I’m happy my confidence is increasing and I’ve been improving through the season, getting two top 20s in two weeks”.
Joe Hides, relatively new to the international scene, positioned 40th.
These results give an encouraging glimpse of the future of British Freeskiing and also as contenders at Sochi and beyond. With the FIS Freestyle skiing season over, GB Freeski athletes head to the Unites States for some final competitions after which the Team will be spending their summer in North America and New Zealand fine-tuning their skills and tricks before the 2014 Winter Olympic season begins.
Notes To Editors
GB Freeski
A wholly owned subsidiary of British Ski & Snowboard, the national governing body, GB Freeski promotes participation in and the advancement of freeskiing in Great Britain and provides support to British athletes competing internationally in preparation for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and beyond. For more information about GB Freeski, its mission, values and structure, please see gbfreeski.com.
For More Information please contact:
GB Freeski
Emma Fergusson, Press Officer M: +44 (0)7850 573 466
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