Winnipeg’s Poleschuk makes Olympic grade

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MONTREAL — It has been said Canada has the depth in men’s hockey to field two teams at next month’s Olympics.

The same could be argued when it comes to the country’s 18-member Olympic freestyle ski team, which was officially announced Monday with several world-class athletes notably absent.

"As much as it’s difficult, that’s what makes this great, that it’s not easy," said Canadian Freestyle Ski Association CEO Peter Judge of making the Olympic team.

"If it were easy, then everybody would be doing it. There has to be that kind of disappointment to make it great, and that’s what makes this such an honour."

With the addition of ski cross to the Olympics this year, the already fierce competition for spots on the Canadian freestyle ski team became all the more crowded.

It made for a tension-filled final weekend of qualifying in Lake Placid, N.Y., for Canada’s freestyle and ski cross athletes. Aerialist Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., thought he had won a spot on the team by the slimmest of margins Saturday, only to lose it when Dave Duncan of London, Ont., qualified during Sunday’s Ski Cross World Cup.

Of the 18 athletes who will represent Canada in Vancouver, seven will compete in ski cross, including Winnipeg’s Danielle Poleschuk, seven in moguls and four in aerials.

One athlete from each discipline — Ashleigh McIvor in ski cross, Jennifer Heil in moguls and Steve Omischl in aerials — were pre-selected prior to this season for the Games. That left 15 spots up for grabs using a complex scoring system to classify athletes from three very different sports onto one master list.

Toronto’s Veronika Bauer — Canada’s lone women’s aerialist — is recovering from a concussion, but anticipates being ready for the Olympics. She said the system is as fair as could be expected under difficult circumstances.

"It was almost impossible to find a fair way to do it, but I think they’ve done it," said Bauer. "The way I look at it is that we’re trying to send the people who can win medals, and that’s the ultimate goal of the Canadian team."

In that sense, this team is stacked.

Heil, of Spruce Grove, Alta., is the defending Olympic women’s moguls champion and has won four straight gold medals on the World Cup circuit, while Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., is third in this year’s rankings.

Omischl, of North Bay, Ont., is a four-time World Cup circuit champion in men’s aerials, while in men’s moguls, Alex Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que., was the 2009 World Cup champion.

In ski cross, Canada has the second, third and fourth-ranked women in the world in Julia Murray of Whistler, B.C., Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna, B.C., and McIvor, also of Whistler. On the men’s side Chris Del Bosco of Vail, Colo. (Canadian father), is ranked third in the world and Calgary’s Stanley Hayer is the defending X-Games champion.

Filling out the team are Montreal’s Chloe Dufour-Lapointe in women’s moguls, while Maxime Gingras of St-Hippolyte, Que., Vincent Marquis of Quebec City and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Que., will compete in men’s moguls. In men’s aerials, there’s Kyle Nissen and Warren Shouldice, both of Calgary. In ski cross, Poleschuk made the women’s team, while and Duncan, of London, Ont., will compete for the men.

Judge said Canada is the country being most penalized by the new allocation of Olympic freestyle spots because of the depth of athletes across all three sports.

In 2006, Canada had 14 aerials and moguls athletes competing, but this year only 11 traditional freestyle skiers will be in Vancouver.

 

— The Canadian Press