Coirier, Burge Take Top Honors At Squaw Valley Freeskiing Open

February 17th, 2007 at 09:07pm Post Staff 3

SQUAW VALLEY USA, CALIF. (Post Time News)--Adrien Coirier of Les Arcs, France, and Squaw local Jamie Burge came out on top of the stacked international field as the Inaugural Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiing Open concluded Friday on the Headwall in Enchanted Forest at Squaw Valley USA.

Photo by Mountain Sports International

Sitting in first position going into this morning’s run, freeskiing legend and ski-movie regular Jamie Burge solidified her lead on the women’s field with an extremely easy looking, smooth and aggressive first run which included a 20-foot cliff drop. Burge went into her second run six points ahead of Jess McMillan of Jackson Hole, Wyo. With such a commanding lead, Burge could have picked a safe run, yet she chose another technical line with lots of rock exposure and sealed her fate as winner of the first Subaru Squaw Valley USA Freeskiing Open. The remaining top six women who advanced to the finals were McMillan, Katharine Lange, Kate Olson, Emily Turner, and Molly Baker. They remained in that finish order after the super-finals.

“I love Squaw Valley, I ski here everyday,” Burge said. “I still compete because competitions are great, they really make you push yourself. It forces you to step it up and be competitive and its fun. You get to see everybody. I’m so honored to represent Squaw today and win this!”

After yesterday’s qualifier round only 8.6 points separated all 32 men who advanced, so it was almost anyone’s game going into today’s finals. First run stand-outs included: Ben Wheeler’s fast, smooth run, which incorporated a 15-foot cliff drop to a straight line; Kevin O’Meara whose gigantic, perfectly executed double-drop off the top section of the venue won him a Sickbird nomination; Craig Garbiel’s fast, aggressive airs and impressive gap-jump; and Adrien Coirier, recent winner of the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open, whose hesitation-free, beautifully executed run catapulted him into first place going into the super-finals.

Today’s super-finals began with Squaw locals, and skiing legends, Daron Rahlves and Gunner Newquist forerunning the venue. The two put on a spectacle, skiing together in unison, straight-lining the entire top portion of the venue and airing a 25-foot cliff near the bottom.

The men’s super-finals today will go down as being one of the best in Freeskiing history. Nine of the 16 men who advanced to the super-finals were nominated for the Sickbird award for their antics. Cliff Bennett of Snowbird, Utah, in fourth after today’s first run, had an incredible second run, nailing each and every aspect he hit, launching him to second position overall. Kevin O’Meara was sitting in second place going into the super-final, but was knocked back to eighth overall when he did a somersault upon landing a double-drop. He did, however receive his third Sickbird nomination of the competition. Corier who was just over two points ahead of O’Meara going into the finals, skied impossibly fast and nailed a huge straight-line with two 20-foot cliffs throughout the middle of the venue. He ended up winning the competition by nearly ten points. Coirier now leads the overall point’s standings for the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series.

“I have been working so hard for this,” Coirier said. “I was running out of money before the winter because I spent all my money in the summer training for this. Today the skiing was just like my mountains in France, it was really good snow and the line I did was exactly what I like to ski. It was perfect and I’m so happy to have won another event.”

This weekend’s the Tobias Lee Memorial Sickbird buckle was awarded to Kevin O’Meara, who was nominated more than any other athlete, at this stop of the tour, for his incredible stunts.

The Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Series continues in three weeks at the 10th Anniversary of the Subaru U.S. Freeskiing Nationals at Snowbird, Utah. Additional stops to the U.S. Freeskiing Series, include the Subaru Jackson Hole Freeskiing Open at Jackson Hole, Wyo., and the Subaru North American Freeskiing Championships at Kirkwood, Calif.

Entry Filed under: Freeskiing, California, Extremes, Contests, Squaw Valley