AFP World Championships Big Air

Words by Jeff Schmuck
Photos by Dan Brown

The third day of the inaugural AFP World Championships at the World Skiing Invitational during the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival went down last night in Whistler, BC with the ever crowd-pleasing big air.

The final Saturday of the Festival is historically the busiest and wildest day of the year in Whistler, as an army of die-hard skiers and snowboards and weekend warriors alike flock to Canada's adult version of Disneyland to get loose on the patio of the Longhorn Saloon and in every nook and cranny at the base of the mountain while screaming at the top of their lungs for the spectacle that is big air.

With fireworks on the jump, chicks twirling fire at the bottom of it and bros drinking fireball on the side, nine ladies and 25 gentlemen took to the respectable-sized step down to put on a show for the 10,000+ crowd while a trio of good looking event emcees (Mike Douglas, TJ Schiller and Reed Speedman) helped rile them up.

Reed Speedman & Mike Douglas

The men were given two jumps each (best one counting) to show off the goods and please the crowd (who despite the eventual outcome, was won over by the showman himself Colby James West more so than anyone else after he busted out a full racer tuck to the base after one of his jumps, sprayed the crowd, and then did the worm across the entire finish corral), with the top 10 moving onto the final round, while the ladies had just one round with two jumps each, best one counting.

T-Wall dropping in...

On the women's side of things, Kim Lamarre took ninth with a motionless zero spin, the pint-sized Anais Caradeux skied faster than she ever has in her life to clear the jump with a cork 3 to place eighth, Sarah Burke tossed some 9's to take seventh, and Keri Herman threw down a switch cork 5 to score sixth.

Anais Caradeux

Sarah Burke

Keri Herman

Fifth place went to Devin Logan with a flatspin 7 that she just missed the grab on, and Maude Raymond took it to the moon like always with a switch cork 5 to grab fourth.

Devin Logan

In third was Anna Segal, who uncorked a smooth cork 7, while the battle of the switch 7 determined the top two placings, with Kaya Turski taking second and the lovable Ashley Battersby picking up another first place victory.

Anna Segal

Kaya Turski

Ashley Battersby

In the men's category, missing the cut were Phil Casabon, John Spriggs, Ian Cosco, Jacob Wester, David Wise, Justin Dorey, Dane Tudor, Joss Christensen, Yoshiya Urate, Aidan Sheahan, Charles Gagnier, Matt Margetts, Tom Wallisch, Simon Dumont, and much to the disappointment of the crowd (since he was planning on throwing a triple flatspin after nearly landing it during the previous day's practice session) and shock of his fellow competitors after stomping a great looking double cork 14, Gus Kenworthy.

Joss Christensen

Tom Wallisch

Simon Dumont

Gus Kenworthy

This left Bobby Brown, Vincent Gagnier, Henrik Harlaut, JF Houle, Tim McChesney, Joe Schuster, LJ Strenio, Byron Wells, Colby James West and James Woods with three runs each in the finals to duke it out for the spotlight, and in case you missed last night's live broadcast, here's some highlights of what went down...

Men's Finalists

In 10th was Byron Wells with arguably the smoothest switch dub flat 9 of the night, Colby James West placed ninth with some huge dub cork 12's, LJ Strenio went crazy with a double cork 16 and switch double cork 14 to take crazy eighth, while Joe Schuster, JF Houle, James Woods and Tim McChesney all threw big double cork 12's as well to land seventh, sixth, fifth and fourth respectively.

Byron Wells

LJ Strenio

JF Houle

The third step on the box went to a super stoked Vincent Gagnier, who unleashed some sick forward 12 octograbs, while an equally happy Henrik 'E-Dollo' Harlaut was awarded second place after laying down one of the biggest and steeziest dub cork 12's of the evening.

Vincent Gagnier

Henrik Harlaut

But in the end it was once again all about Bobby Brown, who pulled an X Games by winning both slopestyle and big air this week after stomping a flawless switch double misty 12 on his third and final run after landing backseat on his first two attempts.

Bobby Brown

Stay tuned for more from the AFP World Championships at the World Skiing Invitational during the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC, which concludes today with Men's and Women's Superpipe Semi-Finals, Finals and a Superhit contest, followed by the crowning of the 2011 AFP Champions.

Results

Men

1) Bobby Brown
2) Henrik Harlaut
3) Vincent Gagnier
4) Tim McChesney
5) James Woods
6) JF Houle
7) Joe Schuster
8) LJ Strenio
9) Colby West
10) Byron Wells

cut-off

11) Gus Kenworthy
12) Simon Dumont
13) Tom Wallisch
14) Matt Margetts
15) Charles Gagnier
16) Aidan Sheahan
17) Yoshiya Urata
18) Joss Christensen
19) Dane Tudor
20) Justin Dorey
21) David Wise
22) Jacob Wester
23) Ian Cosco
24) John Spriggs
25) Phil Casabon

Women

1) Ashley Battersby
2) Kaya Turski
3) Anna Segal
4) Maude Raymond
5) Devin Logan
6) Keri Herman
7) Sarah Burke
8) Anais Caradeux
9) Kim Lamarre

To see how this event will affect the AFP rankings, go to www.afpworldtour.com