Val St. Côme (QC), Canada – Canadians National Aerials Team members Warren Shouldice and Sabrina Guerin each earned their first Canadian titles at the Canada Post Nationals held in Quebec on Saturday.nUnder brilliant blue skies, with gusting headwinds that made it difficult to guage speeds, Shouldice wrapped up a stellar season with a score of 206.91. The reigning World Champion and team veteran mused that it was about time.
“I’ve always joked about being the greatest Canadian aerialist to never win Nationals, so I guess that dream will now go unfulfilled,” he said.
Shouldice now heads home to Calgary for a few months of strength training and conditioning before he hits the water ramps in Lac Beauport, Quebec, for summer training. He said that at the ripe old age of 28 his body can’t take as many summer jumps as it did when he was younger.
“The idea now is to cut down on technical training, so I’ll spend more time in the gym and visualizing jumps. The in the summer I’ll focus on doing quality jumps over quantity,” Shouldice said.
Jonathan Vellner of Red Deer, Alberta, took the silver medal Saturday at 196.35. He was proud of his performance considering that he didn’t train all week.
“I hit my head earlier in the week, I may not have had a concussion, but we were being extra cautious so I took the whole week off,” Vellner explained. “Then I had two pretty good jumps today – I just missed my landing a bit on my first jump today, but in the air it was probably one of my best jumps of the season.”
The bronze medal went to Travis Gerrits of Milton, Ontario, at 192.99. Gerrits, who had a breakout season and a sixth-place showing at the FIS World Championships said he wasn’t very happy with his performance Saturday after slapping back on his first jump, but he is looking forward to a long hard summer of training to work on his technique.
On the women’s side, Laval, Quebec’s Guerin won with a score of 129.46. She struggled on her first jump of two when the headwinds slowed her down at least one km/h. But she had an excellent second jump, a lay full, which put her in the top spot.
“I really need to work harder on my landings,” said Guerin. “That is my main focus right now.”
Maude Potvin-Gilbert, a 19-year-old rookie from Gatineau, Quebec, earned the silver medal in her first-ever National Championships, landing both her jumps well and scoring 126.15. Potvin-Gilbert hopes her scores here will earn her a berth on the National Team for next season.