Teton Village, WY – The Subaru Freeskiing World Tour Qualifier returned to Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on Saturday to give top honors and the custom-made howitzer shell trophy to Timber Ridge, Mich. skier Rebecca Selig, and long time competitor Jesse Bryan from Snowbird, Utah, who also received the day’s coveted Backcountry.com Sickbird Award.n“Good day to judge the finals. Bluebird, great snow, great terrain, great talent; we could not have asked for more. We had a tough time picking these athletes out, but our top finishers were the ones who showed fluid and confident skiing through the tough terrain,” said Head Judge Jim Jack.
Ten females and 21 males left the start gate at Tower Three, which is permanently closed to the public and was only opened for the competition this Saturday morning, but only the top four females and top seven male competitors were added to the pre-qualified athletes’ list for the rest of the 2011 tour. Selig dominated the women’s field throughout the weekend, showing great technique and skiing fast and fluid exposed lines. Defending her top spot on day one and today, she finished the competition with a final score of 73.63. In second place was Jackson Hole’s very own, Crystal Wright, who executed an impressive technical air in the middle of her run, billy goat style, earning her a 68.10. Kristin Knaub had a consistent weekend, choosing big lines that required her to negotiate a lot of moving snow, putting her in third place with a score of 64.33.
Given that Crystal Wright is a pre-qualified athlete as well as Sara Rose Mancuso, who came in fifth for the women, Knaub acquired the second qualifier spot, followed by Louise Lintilhac. Emma Lande earned the last spot, coming in sixth place right behind Mancuso.
“You never know what to expect when you come into these competitions, so I’m really happy it turned out the way it did,” said Rebecca Selig. “I changed my run a bit; I decided to go right instead of left and it obviously was the right choice. It’s my mom’s birthday today so I’m stoked to call her and give her the news.”
Always a threat to the podium, Jesse Bryan dominated the field on both days of competition with his aggressive line choice and solid technique, stomping big air at the bottom of his run. Finishing up with an 83.1, his solid runs impressed the judges and earned him the Sickbird Award as well. Despite his young age, Canadian Caleb Brown skied a very aggressive line loaded with features, earning second place for the men with an 80.53. Close behind in third place, was a new face on the tour, Corey Felton, a Jackson local who displayed his terrain knowledge with a smooth execution off the hand rail, finishing off his run with a technical air in the trees and final score of 79.37.
Bryan got the first, out of seven, pre-qualified spots for the men. Since Brown was a prequalified athlete, the next spot was given to Felton, following by Mark Mikos, Will Soltau, Cody Erwin, Daimon Bushi and Ryan Banker.
“Today I picked a line that I could ski nice and clean but fairly fast, and it worked out just how I pictured it,” said Jesse Bryan. “You come into these competitions knowing that there are so many good skiers, and getting first place and the Sickbird Award is just awesome. I’m absolutely ecstatic.”
The North Face Young Gun Award, which goes to the most impressive 21-year-old or younger athlete, was awarded to Canadian, Cody Erwin.