by Shanti Sosienski
(February 26, 1997)
What is the ISF World Championship anyway, I asked myself as I sat on the
edge of the halfpipe for most of the day today? Bodies were flying overhead
as the pre-qualifiers dropped the pipe all morning long in hopes of obtaining
a spot in the finals on Friday.
We would like to tell you exactly how many people were pre-qualified for the contest based on past ISF rankings, high FIS rankings, or just because they are truly above all the rest thus receiving the esteemed ISF "wild card" (sort of like a "pass go and collect 200 dollars" without jumping through the hoops), but their was technological failure in the ISF headquarters. The results of today and the starting list all seemed to be a bit of a jumbled mess, so all we can really say is that a lot of ripping snowboarders are going to be flying high in the pipe this weekend.
But back to what the ISF World Cup Championship is: it’s an individual event to determine a World Champion. This week’s events help determine an overall ISF champion based on contests throughout the season.
In today’s event, the morning was a qualifier for those who weren’t already in competition standing in the ISF. Competitors battled it out "jam session" style with riders dropping in one after another throughout the morning. The women had one heat and the men were broken up into three heats.
"I’m nervous," said Palmer rider Greg Goulet as he waited to take his run. "I know it’s not a big deal but I always get nervous at these things." Goulet had reason to be nervous though as the competition in the qualifiers appeared fairly stiff. Dave Lee, Jim Moran, John Sommers, and Todd Schlosser were a few other than Goulet among the 51 pros attempting to qualify. Only sixteen men were chosen from that group. In the women’s division sixteen women rode the pipe for eight spots.
The afternoon consisted of a practice session for the already qualified competitors. This was some of the more exciting halfpipe riding of the day. Daniel Franck, Terje Haakonsen, Fabian Rohrer, and Todd Richards busted one big spin after another. The competition level was high even though it was just a practice. Riders seemed to be working hard at wowing the small crowd that formed at the edge of the pipe, and photographers were clicking non-stop. The sun shone all afternoon making hanging out in the cold fun and the pipe looked slushy.
Nothing was too surprising in the practice runs as competitors seemed to be saving the extra fancy stuff for closer to the finals. The most shocking run of the day was in one of the final runs of the practice when an unknown rider collided with Terje. The rider was wounded as Terje’s board somehow managed to ride over the guys face leaving a deep gash to the bone below his right eye. It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt boys and girls.
Read on for more results as the competition heats up. Oh by the way, did I mention there is also a slalom contest that is part of the World Championship. Unfortunately that part of the contest is at Heavenly and so seeing that all of the pros you SOL readers are always asking us to tell you about are at Sierra-At-Tahoe riding the halfpipe, that’s where I’ll be.
The
European ISF Worlds At Tahoe (2-26-97)
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