Park City’s Alex Schlopy is officially on fire.
Four days after winning a gold medal in the Winter X Games Big Air in Aspen, Colo., the 18-year-old Park City resident returned to his hometown to win the inaugural men’s slopestyle competition in the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships Thursday at Park City Mountain Resort.
The judging panel takes the best of the two finals runs and Schlopy overcame a 27.50-point first run to shoot to the top of the leaderboard with a second run of 41.80; a score that would eventually earn him his second goal medal in less than a week.
Having started second in the 10-man field, Schlopy’s exquisite second run left him at the bottom of the course watching eight more of the world’s best slopestyle skiers as they tried to outski him.
They couldn’t.
“Getting my mind clear was a little tough, but now that it’s over and done with, I’m in even more disbelief,” Schlopy said. “I can’t believe that I made it down and ended up in first place. I’m just so happy. To make it even better, it’s here in Park City.”
“It just feels so much better when you land a run,” Schlopy said. “After I landed my second run, I was really happy I made it to the bottom; didn’t know exactly how it was going to turn out.”
Schlopy’s American teammate, Sammy Carlson (Hood River, Oregon), who won the 2011 Winter X Games slopestyle competition in Aspen last weekend, came in second winning the silver medal with a score of 41.50.
Australia’s Russ Henshaw earned the bronze medal with a score of 41.20.
On the women’s side, Australia’s Anna Segal moved from eighth place to first following her commanding second run scored a 43.40 that gave her the gold medal.
Segal said she planned to change up her routine after she qualified Wednesday for the finals and things turned out perfectly for the Aussie.
“I went from eighth place to first place, which I definitely wasn’t expecting,” she said. “I was just really relaxed, I think.”
Canada’s Kaya Turski earned the silver medal with a score of 41.70, while American Keri Herman (Breckenridge, Colo.) earned the bronze with a 41.00.
“It feels great,” Herman said.
Slopestyle is one of two disciplines, along with ski halfpipe, being showcased this week that are on the bubble for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. In slopestyle, which is judged on style rather than speed, competitors ski through a series of features including rails and jumps.
An IOC representative was on hand to watch the events Thursday at PCMR.
“What I have seen from slopestyle, it is very good,” said Canadian IOC representative Walter Sieber in a statement released by the United States Ski and Snowboard Association. “It’s a great course. I cannot give you any hints, but what I can say is that the IOC sending an observer here is very serious in recognizing eventually that slopestyle and halfpipe skiing could potentially be accepted.”
Local slopestyle skier Ashley Battersby, who finished sixth Thursday, was all smiles when asked what she thought about the possible inclusion of her sport in the next Olympics.
“I’ve been ready for sure,” she said. “I am totally so stoked that they’re considering us for the Olympics. That’s awesome. Hopefully they like what we do and 2014, we’re coming.”