Victory can only taste twice as sweet when it actually happens twice.
This was the case for the Canadian men this weekend at the FIS world Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., taking two of the three available gold medals at the competition.
Freestyle mogul skier Warren Tanner and freestyle aerialist Steve Omischl both took home the gold medal in their respective events for team Canada.
Tanner got the ball rolling after tearing up the course on Wilderness at Whiteface Mountain, Jan 18.
After qualifying in 14th spot, the odds were against Tanner, before throwing down the run of his life, with a few of the top skiers left to challenge.
“I skied about as well as I could have. I pretty much left it all out on the hill. I had a plan, I executed it, and I stuck to it. I’m just elated,” explained Tanner of his finals run.
Tanner’s run wasn’t challenged until the final skier of the day, top-ranked Dale Begg-Smith of Australia took the course.
Begg-Smith skied a flawless run as well, leaving Tanner’s fate in the hands of the judges.
The scores came in and Begg-Smith received a score of 25.49, good enough for the silver medal, a mere 0.06 of a point behind Tanner.
The margin of victory wasn’t as close for aerialist Omischl. After a tough week in training, Omischl stomped his first jump, leaving him in first place with a score of 130.53.
“I had atrocious, atrocious training. I’ve never been more nervous. I felt better at the Olympics,” said Omischl.
He managed to push aside these nerves for his second jump and landed cleanly again, giving him a combined score of 243.47, good enough for first place, the 15th victory of his World Cup career.
A few other Canadians had notable finishes in the competitions this weekend.
Mogul skier Alexandre Bilodeau captured the silver medal in Sunday’s mogul event while teammate Phillip Rousseau just missed the podium finishing in fourth place.
Vincent Marquis and Jacques Renaud of the placed in fourth and fifth spot respectively in Friday’s mogul competition.
Notable female Canadian athletes include Audrey Robichaud, who placed fourth in Sunday’s mogul competition, and Diedra Dionne, who placed sixth in Saturday’s aerial contest.
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