Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – A little flat light and firm landings did not hinder the U.S. at the 2010 FIS Freestyle Junior World slopestyle on Monday, as Bobby Brown and Jamie Crane-Mauzy made history as the first freeski slopestyle world champions to lead a U.S. domination at the 2010 Junior Snowboard and Freestyle World Championships, held at Snow Park NZ.nBrown, 19, of Englewood, Colo., led the day from the start, qualifying with a solid first run which featured a massive double cork 10 off the giant 70-foot 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 put him nine points in the lead. That lead, however, was closed on the second run by Gus Kenworthy, 18, of Telluride, Colo., but he held onto the title with an impressive 45.1 score. 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.

“It was cool and we’re having a good time,” added Brown. “The attitude is chill and the weather is super good. People were just going at it and getting it done, so it was a really good day.”

Kenworthy, who was a last minute substitute for the U.S., made the most of his late entry landing behind Brown in second on the podium. His stellar run consisted of a 270 onto the flat rail with a pretzel 270 out into a cork 9 nose on the first jump to a switch right cork 7 lead tail on the second to a switch 10 tail grab on the third, ending with a switch 270 on and 450 off the cannon box.

“The whole atmosphere is pretty laid back and fun. They were running everyone really quickly, which was awesome and the judges were really on point with getting the scores up quickly,” said Kenworthy. “It was pretty much perfect, couldn’t really ask for more.”

In the women’s contest, Crane-Mauzy, 17, of Waterville Valley, N.H., qualified over 11 points ahead of her nearest rival, Blake Peterson, 17, of Park City, Utah. 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 edge Canadian Keltie Hansen, 18, of Edmonton, Alberta, to the post by 0.4 and take the world title.

“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!”

Another American, Devin Logan, of West Dover, Vt., rounded out the podium by fighting through the pain of an injured groin.

“Yesterday in my last I hurt my groin so coming in to today I wasn’t too super stoked,” said Logan. I just endured the pain and did what I know how to do and put my final run together. It was just a really close competition. All the girls killed it and did awesome jobs. It was so close and fun.”

Also busting into the top five were Utah natives Nick Keefer (Salt Lake City) and Blake Peterson (Park City) in fourth and fifth, respectively. Cody Ling (Buffalo, Minn.) broke into the top 10 in tenth, making it a total of seven U.S. athletes in the top 10.

All three New Zealanders finished in the top 10 – Byron Wells (18) in fifth, Hamish McDougall (20) in seventh and Matt Johnson (19) in ninth.

Dean Gosper of FIS said it was a great compliment to the event that there was such a high caliber of field and a broad cross section of athletes with the wider selection of events has attracted a very exciting field.

“New Zealand should feel complimented by the level of excitement within FIS about this event, he said. “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.”

With regards to the possibility of snowboard and freeski slopestyle and freeski halfpipe entering the Olympics, Gosper commented, “There is a high level of interest from spectators and media so there’s a strong pull from the outside for these events to come to the Olympics rather than an internal push from the sports. The fact that the terrain is complimentary to these disciplines is also a very attractive feature – they’re exciting, contemporary and commercially attractive and can be delivered efficiently – these are very persuasive arguments to an organization like the IOC.”

The on-snow action continues today with the snowboard halfpipe qualifiers at Cardrona Alpine Resort. The freestyle skiing contests will pick back up on Saturday at Cardrona.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships
Snow Park, New Zealand
August 23, 2010

Men’s Slopestyle
1. Bobby Brown, Englewood, CO, 45.60
2. Gus Kenworthy, Telluride, CO, 42.10
3. Jonas Hunziker, Switzerland, 39.40
4. Nick Keefer, Salt Lake City, UT, 38.60
5. Bryon Wells, New Zealand, 37.90

Women’s Slopestyle
1. Jamie Crane-Mauzy, Waterville Valley, NH, 35.00
2. Keltie Hansen, Canada, 34.60
3. Devin Logan, West Dover, VT, 26.30
4. Megan Gunning, Canada, 20.60
5. Blake Peterson, Park City, UT, 15.20