FREESTYLE - MOGULS: Melbourne skier Brodie Summers finished 12th in the last event before the Sochi Olympic Winter Games qualification cut-off date, enhancing his chances of being selected in the 2014 Australian Olympic Team.
FREESTYLE - MOGULS: Melbourne skier Brodie Summers finished 12th in the last event before the Sochi Olympic Winter Games qualification cut-off date, enhancing his chances of being selected in the 2014 Australian Olympic Team.
The result on Sunday (Monday morning in Australia) in Val St Come, Canada, created a new World Cup personal best for the Australian, improving his previous highest finish by six places.
The event was a Canadian first and second for Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury with American Bradley Wilson third.
The 12th place lifts Summers’ world ranking to 28, seven places higher than before the Canadian event.
Summers progressed to his first final of the season, for the top 16 athletes from the qualification session, before delivering a run in the first final that was solid across turns, jumps and speed, but was not strong enough to put him in the six man super-final.
Summers, along with two other Australians who competed in Val St Come – Sam Hall and Taylah-Paige O’Neill - will immediately re-join other squad members Matt Graham, Dale Begg-Smith, Britt Cox and Nicole Parks, at a training camp in the United States to fine tune their preparation for Sochi, which starts February 7.
While O’Neill was unable to qualify for the women’s final, she was 21st today, and Hall was 38th.
The women’s event was a one-two for Canadian sisters Chloe Dufour-Lapointe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe while Japan’s Junko Hoshino was the bronze medallist.
