The freeskiers at this year's in 脜re, Sweden, this weekend got such big air and wild twists that, in one instance, a joke about the need for pocket calculators to tally rotations wasn't out of the question, according to
In Saturday's final, Alex Schlopy attempted his first triple cork and instead turned a triple cork 1980鈥攆ive and a half rotations鈥攂efore landing on his hip and ultimately forgoing his last run. “I think I have to get my calculator out for this one,” event host Luke Van Valin said.
Alongside Schlopy in the finals were Russ Henshaw, Elias Amb眉hl, Ole Christian Mustad, and Andreas H氓tveit. Despite a double cork 1260 by Mustad and Schlopy's 1980, the night belonged to Elias Amb眉hl, who landed a triple cork 1440 on each of his runs in the final round, each a little cleaner than the last.
Schlopy, hip check and all, finished fifth, with Henshaw, H氓tveit, and Mustad taking fourth through second, respectively.
Jon Olsson pulled double duty, competing both in the freeskiing event and in the Vattenfall Alpine Challenge, which took place between freeskiing runs, to keep the audience entertained. Olsson and his teammate finished in fourth place.
For more on Olsson and his plans to make Sweden's 2014 Olympic team in GS, see our January 2009 issue.
–Michael Webster