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Posts Tagged ‘Jennifer Heil’

Alexandre Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que. skis to second place in dual moguls competition at the Canada Post Freestyle National Championships at Cypress Mountain in West Vancouver, Sunday, March 29. 2009. Photo by Mike Ridewood/Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

A lot of Canadians (myself included) were predicting that the gold medal drought on home soil would end on the first full day of competition by Jennifer Heil in womens freestyle skiing competition. That was not to be, as the American skier Hannah Kearney was just that much better, edging Jen out for the gold. Heil is still a champion, she has WON an Olympic silver medal to go with her gold from Torino and all Canadians should be very proud of her.

Day 3 brought another great chance for Canada’s gold medal drought to end with four Canadians in the mens freestyle final, including Alexandre Bilodeau, who was expected to challenge for the top of the podium. The reigning mens champion from Torino, Dale Begg-Smith had skied before Bilodeau, laying down an excellent run, but it was not flawless and there was room for Bilodeau to surpass him. Alexandre started off in spectacular fashion, laying down a nearly perfect double twisting backflip before launching himself through the middle section of moguls with  barely controlled reckless abandon. Holding form throughout, Alex was set up huge iron cross backflip. Crossing the finish line, Alexandre and the rest of Canada knew that his run was good enough to put him in first place. Anxious moments passed, but finally the judges scores were posted and they concurred with the entirety of Canadian national opinion; Bilodeau was in first place with one competitor left.

I watched the competition on Robson St. in downtown Vancouver with my brother, his girlfriend and one of my dearest friends, packed together with hundreds (thousands?) of other excited Canadians. When the scores were posted for the final skier and it was a done deal that not only was Canada’s first gold of the games secured, but also a long drought of not winning at home was over, the crowd lost itself. Decades worth of pent up frustration were released into the beautiful Vancouver night sky (no rain either!) Alexandre appears to be nothing but an exemplary young man and all of Canada is extremely proud of his accomplishment. In both post race interviews I saw with Bilodeau, he was quick to note that his gold is only the first of many to come for Canada at these games as the Canadian team is extremely strong. I could not agree with him more. Make sure to tune in this afternoon to the mens snowboard cross, where Canada entertains further medal hopes.

CTV does not allow for embedded videos, but you can watch Alexandre’s gold medal run in great streaming quality here.

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Jennifer Heil of Canada jumps off the ramp to take first place during the finals Women's Moguls at Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, 2006. (AP / Peter Dejong)

In just over an hour the womens mogul competition’s final round will begin. At the conclusion of the event Canada stands an extremely strong chance of winning it’s first Olympic gold medal, both of these games and on home soil. Should that be the case, it would most likely be from Jennifer Heil claiming first place. Jen is the reigning Olympic champion, as well as being currently ranked first in the World Cup standings. Jen is an amazing athelete and accomplished young woman. She currently lives in Montreal where she is an economics student.

Canada has two other women competing in the final round who are both medal threats. After the qualifying round Kristi Richards was in fourth place, with Chloe Dafour-Lapointe sitting in ninth. The qualifying round merely sets the start order for the finals, so it is a brand new competition, and there are even multiple podium places possible for Canada. Should Heil (or one of the other Canadian ladies) win gold, look for a party tonight in Vancouver that will be talked about many years from now. Go Canada Go!!

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