History was made at the FIS Snowboard & Freestyle Junior World Championships in New Zealand on Monday: the first ski slopestyle world champions were crowned as Bobby Brown (19) and Jamie Crane-Mauzy (17) of the USA took the titles.
Bobby Brown led the day from the start, qualifying with a solid first run which featured a massive double cork 10 off the giant 70ft kicker. In the finals an almost flawless first run of a switch with 270 out into a cork 9 tail into a switch 900 mute grab, double cork 1080 finishing with a misty 450 out which put him nine points in the lead.
However, that lead was closed on the second run by Gus Kenworthy (USA) yet Brown held onto the title. Jonas Hunziker (16) of Switzerland skied up into third place, taking the final spot on the podium.
"It was a super fun day and it's awesome to be standing on the podium next to one of my best mates, Gus Kenworthy," said Brown. "The introduction of freeskiing into FIS is going to be interesting. It's great to have freeskiing at this event and it's a good way to excel our sport."
In the ladies' competition, Jamie Crane-Mauzy qualified over 11 points ahead of her nearest rival, Blake Peterson (17), also of the USA. In the finals a fall in her first run put her to the bottom of the table but her second run which featured a straight slide to back cross to 3 mute followed by a front flip truck finishing with a straight slide enabled her to just pip Keltie Hansen (18) of Canada to the post by 0.4 and take the world title. Fellow American, Devin Logan, rounded out the podium.
"My goal was to land my run - I knew if I could do that I would do OK," said Crane Mauzy. "It feels so good to be world champion!"
Australian FIS Council member Dean Gosper said it was a great compliment to the event that there was such a high calibre of field and a broad cross section of athletes with the wider selection of events has attracted a very exciting field.
"FIS is very excited by New Zealand's initiative to not only to host the first world championships in the Southern Hemisphere but also the first combined discipline world championships. The integration of the two sports provides a wonderful opportunity in competitive snow sports. They can sit comfortably side by side with a high cultural overlap and there is also a good level of respect between the disciplines. We see the Junior World Championships as the beginning of a closer working relationship between the disciplines at all levels of FIS."
The on-snow action continues with the snowboard half-pipe qualifiers at Cardrona Alpine Resort while the freestyle contests will pick back up on Saturday, August 28.For further information and full results, go to the live scoring section of www.juniorworldsnz.co.nz
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships
Snow Park, New Zealand
August 23, 2010
Men's Slopestyle
1. Bobby Brown, USA, 45.60
2. Gus Kenworthy, USA, 42.10
3. Jonas Hunziker, SUI, 39.40
4. Nick Keefer, USA, 38.60
5. Bryon Wells, NZL, 37.90
Ladies' Slopestyle
1. Jamie Crane-Mauzy, USA, 35.00
2. Keltie Hansen, CAN, 34.60
3. Devin Logan, USA, 26.30
4. Megan Gunning, CAN, 20.60
5. Blake Peterson, USA, 15.20
