COLORADO TRIO GOING TO GAMES
SNOWM A SS VILLAGE» Three Colorado athletes — Aaron Blunck, Alex Ferreira and Red Gerard — secured their Winter Olympic berths Friday at the second U.S. Grand Prix this season.
With a nearly perfect performance on a blustery, gray day, Silverthorne snowboarding phenom Gerard claimed his Olympic berth on U.S. Snowboarding’s PyeongChang-bound slopestyle team.
He joins Silverthorne teammate Chris Corning on Team USA, giving Summit County two of the brightest Olympic snowboarding stars.
Judges at the Snowmass Grand Prix gave Gerard an almost perfect score, after the 17year-old spun a monster 1440 on the second of two jumps. (Heavy snow, high winds and low light forced Grand Prix organizers to cut the final jump from the contest.)
In a best-of-three format, Gerard led every round with his casual style that defines him well beyond the snow.
“Was I nervous? About the Olympics? No, man,” he said, surrounded by his friends and family. “I was pretty mellow about this whole thing. I just go snowboarding. Same old thing. I’m pretty psyched though. I’m excited to go check it out.”
Gerard pretty much owns slopestyle snowboarding right now, with an easy dominance that translates easily into winning scores.
When asked what he was most looking forward to now that he had locked in his Olympic berth, Gerard shrugged.
“I don’t really know. I’m just chilling, always,” he said. “I haven’t been thinking about it too much. But it’s definitely cool knowing that I’m going.”
Aspen halfpipe skier Ferreira, 23, found his second podium of the season in front of his hometown crowd.
“This is an iconic moment for me, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget this for the rest of my life,” he said after hugging friends and family following his second-place performance, which qualified him for the Olympic show after winning last month’s Dew Tour. “Seriously, this is one of the best days of my life.”
Ferreira finished behind Olympic gold medalist David Wise, who also on Friday secured his spot on the PyeongChang freeskiing team. Crested Butte’s Blunck placed third, marking his second podium in the last two contests and completing a U.S. freeskier sweep at the Snowmass Grand Prix. Blunck, 21 and a veteran of the Sochi Winter Olympics, locked in his Olympic berth with the finish at Snowmass.