Preview
Slopestyle
Big Air
Superpipe
Bobby Brown earned his second win this week at Whistler's AFP World Championships with a victory in Saturday night's big air contest, just two days after he won slopestyle gold.
Although last week Brown stuck freeskiing's first triple cork 1440 (several of which were also thrown at this weekend's Jon Olsson Invitational in Sweden), there were no triples in the World Skiing Invitational at Whistler. After two crashes on his first two jumps in the superfinal, Brown won with a switch double misty 1260, thrown on his last hit of the night. Henrik Harlaut took second with a double cork 1260 and Vincent Gagnier took third with a forward 1260 with an octo grab.
Brown took home the keys to a brand new 2011 Chevy Cruze. "It's been an awesome week in Whistler," Brown wrote on Twitter. "[I] just won the big air and won a car!"
In the women's field, Ashley Battersby took first with a switch 720 on her first hit of the night. "I haven't gotten a win since the Breckenridge Dew Tour in December," Battersby told ESPN. "I've had four sixth places in the last contests I was in [before this week], so right now, I feel really good. I got up there and I skied my best."
This week's slopestyle champ Kaya Turski, who did a switch 720, took second and Anna Segal, cork 7, took third for the women.
The contest drew nearly 10,000 spectators who crowded Whistler Village to celebrate the resort's World Ski and Snowboard Festival. Saturday night's show included fireworks behind the jump, a DJ and post-contest fire dancers. Former Winter X big air gold medalist TJ Schiller, who's recovering from a knee injury, was the guest emcee for the evening. "Sick contest tonight," Schiller said. "Huge props to everyone throwing down."
Of the 25 men who started the night's big air contest, only 10 made it to the superfinals. Simon Dumont, who's currently ranked first on the overall AFP rankings, and Gus Kenworthy, who's ranked second, barely missed the superfinal cut.
The AFP Championships wrap up on Sunday afternoon with the superpipe contest, the last competition of the 2011 season.