Ill-timed adverse weather prevented this year's Canadian Freestyle Championships from concluding exactly as planned on Sunday, but medals were still handed out based on the athletes' qualifying runs.
Zoe Greze-Kozuki followed up her slopestyle bronze with a big air victory, cementing her spot as the event's top overall non-moguls practitioner among women. Makenna Griffiths finished in the runner-up hole and Jillian Mullie placed third.
"She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met, and her skiing is so nice to watch," Griffiths said about her fellow Whistlerite Greze-Kozuki, who is also returning from injury. "She's super comfortable on her skis and everything. I really enjoy watching her ski because she can really tweak out grabs and land really nicely."
Misha Litvinenko struck gold among male big air contestants. Jude Oliver came through for silver and bronze went to Avery Macyk—the latter of whom was eventually crowned men's overall king.
Oliver recalled: "Misha came out of the gate swinging with triples and stuff. He didn't even hit the jump switch and he did a switch 18, which was insane—definitely put the pressure on a bunch of people. But I'm really stoked on how everyone performed. A lot of people did new stuff in that competition, and it's pretty cool to watch all that go down."
Dual moguls ended up being too close to call on the ladies' side, with Maya Mikkelsen tying Sina Clegg for top honours. Clegg won the overall in her discipline, with Florence Laroche and Citrine Boychuk deadlocked in third position.
Jean-Christophe Bougie netted a dual moguls win of his own alongside overall triumph for the weekend. He was joined on the podium by Cole Carey (silver) and Simon Phillippon Fugere (bronze).
'We were all prepared to just be safe'
Each of Sunday's competitors knew the weather forecast and realized they needed to play their cards wisely.
"When I was taking the gondola up, you could see that it was super foggy so we were all prepared to just be safe," explained Griffiths. "When we got to qualifications, there was a super nice window [with] no fog and kind of perfect visibility, so that was great. People could actually do the tricks they wanted to."
For example, Griffiths was one of only two girls to land a cork 900.
Oliver reached into his bag and pulled out a switch 1440 featuring a Japan grab: a maneuver that doesn't compromise his vision at any point in the air. He stated that Whistler is his favourite venue and was proud of his performance a day after ending up fourth in slopestyle.
Outside of the results, a number of Canadians expressed appreciation for the fact that moguls athletes got to brush shoulders with their slopestyle/big air counterparts at Nationals—a rare phenomenon in the sport.
"I think our park is amazing, one of the best in Canada. Our jumps are built so perfectly by our park crew and I think everyone should be able to experience them," Griffiths said. "I have some super close friends in moguls—one of my closest friends was competing at the same time as me, so I got to do a couple laps with her and watch her."
Aidan Mulvihill, Saturday's slopestyle champ who elected not to start the big air, remarked: "It's always unreal to have events that collaborate with snowboarders, with ski racers, with mogul skiers, with halfpipe skiers, with aerialists. It's so cool to see everybody's viewpoint on the sport."
