Freestyle skiing | Nadeau, Fontaine and Aumond all finalists in Deer Valley

There is a long way to go to reach a World Cup podium. On Wednesday, young Quebecers Émile Nadeau, Miha Fontaine and Flavie Aumond were not medalists in the Freestyle Ski Jumps in Deer Valley, except that they came closer to that goal. And more importantly, some of them may have even secured their place for the next Olympics.

Nadeau and Aumond placed fifth in the grand final, while Fontaine took sixth place on this day when the three jumpers also excelled at the start of the competition.

Xindi Wang led the Chinese sweep of the men’s podium and Australia’s Laura Peel flew over the women’s event.

Deer Valley smiles at Nadeau

There are more festive places than Utah to celebrate his majority, but Émile Nadeau still bought himself a nice festive gift on the eve of his 18th birthday by piercing the top 5 of a World Cup for the second time in his career. A year earlier, it was at the same place that he had clinched fourth place.

“I managed to land my first triple jumps in the World Cup and I’m really happy with that! Yesterday [mardi], in training, I injured an ankle and it was in pain, so I jumped less before the competition. I went there for the whole thing and doing my biggest jump and it worked well, ”said the young athlete with pride.

Once in the super final, Nadeau executed his maneuvers well in the air, but once on the ground, he was catapulted forward before falling back on his skis.

“The visibility had changed and there was shade in the landing zone and it was not obvious. […] Despite this, I am really happy with what I did! ”

Last in the running

Miha Fontaine started as the favorite in the super final after dominating the previous round. Even before setting off for the springboard, he already had the feeling of duty accomplished.

“The last time I experienced this, it was in a Nor-Am competition, two years ago. There, in the World Cup, it really surprised me. I was at the top and I couldn’t believe I was the last one to jump! ”Supported Sportcom the one who celebrated his 18th birthday last week.

“I felt that I had already made my day. I had never experienced the pressure to go last and it will be something to understand for the next few times in order to be better prepared, ”he added, not at all disappointed not to be a medalist after touching the ground. with his back on landing his last jump.

The son of former champion Nicolas Fontaine managed two top 8 last year and Wednesday’s is his second this season. According to his calculations, this allows him to meet the Olympic selection criteria.

However, we will have to wait for the Canadian results of the other freestyle skiing disciplines before knowing how many places will be allocated to each of them on the Olympic team which will be in Beijing next month.

“We will wait, but for now, it’s looking very good! ”

Personal record for Flavie Aumond

By finishing fifth, Flavie Aumond notched the best result of her career in the Individual World Cup, she who finished in sixth place at the Relais de Lac-Beauport, last week.

“I knew I was capable and I did really well in qualifying with my best score ever (90.09). In the super final, I missed my start [décollage du tremplin], which made it less big in the air. [Ce résultat] really helps us for the Olympic qualification! I have a good chance, except that it remains to do with the official selection. ”

In the grand final, the Lac-Beauport skier was thrown backwards when touching the ground.

In the first final, Justine Ally missed the landing of her jump and tumbled forward. Fortunately, the Lac-Supérieur skier did not appear to be injured and she was even able to greet the camera when her rating was awarded. She concludes the day at 11^e rank.

Victor Primeau and Alexandre Duchaine, respectively 25^e and 32^e, stopped in the men’s qualifying round. Naomy Boudreau-Guertin (Boischatel) took the 23^e rank among women.

The action will resume this Thursday on the site of the 2002 Olympic Games with the presentation of the mogul event.

The official announcement of the Olympic freestyle ski team is due next Sunday.