Canadian trio fly toward qualifying for trip to Sochi with sweep at halfpipe event
Justin Dorey, Noah Bowman, and Matt Margetts took a giant leap closer to qualifying for the Canadian Olympic team Friday with a sweep of the ski halfpipe podium at the FIS Freestyle World Cup.
Perhaps even sweeter, they claim to have won a long- standing bet with their coach Trennon Paynter thanks to a show of total domination at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary
“That doesn’t happen very often,” Margetts, the third- place finisher said of Canada seizing first, second, and third place in one of the final tuneup events for the Sochi Olympics. “It’s actually so rare that we made our coach a bet that if we ever have a three- person Canadian podium sweep, he’s got to start smoking again.”
For the record, Paynter denies any knowledge of such wager and has no intention of smoking in celebration of such a convincing performance — even with the countdown clock to the opening ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Games sitting at a mere 34 days.
But Canadians have reason for optimism given the host nation’s performance Friday minus the services of 2011 world champion Mike Riddle, of Sherwood Park. With his trip to Sochi already booked, Riddle sat this one out to nurse a bruised foot.
Grizzled veteran Justin Dorey, of Vernon, captured his first World Cup victory with a combined score of 87.20 over two runs. Noah Bowman, of Calgary, seized silver with a score of 84.40. Matt Margetts, of Penticton won bronze with a score of 82.60. Simon d’Artois, of Vancouver, finished in fifth place.
Canada has 26 available spots on the freestyle team for Sochi ( consisting of athletes from ski cross, aerials, moguls, halfpipe and slopestyle.) This country can send a maximum of four male halfpipe skiers, with five legitimate contenders ( Riddle, Dorey, Bowman, Margetts, and d’Artois) in the mix.
Bowman and Margetts still yet to qualify for the Games, with the official team announcement set for Jan. 20.“