Freestyle Canada – Eight Freestyle Canada Athletes
To Compete at X Games
 Aspen, Colorado, January 24, 2017 – Eight Freestyle Canada athletes are headed to Aspen, Colorado, this week where the X Games, the most anticipated show on snow for slopestyle and halfpipe athletes, will be held from January 26 to 29.
 
X Games veteran and Olympic silver medallist Mike Riddle will be among the numerous athletes who will participate in the superpipe competition. This will be Riddle’s 12^th invite to his sport’s flagship event, where he is still in search of his first medal. He will be accompanied by Simon d’Artois of Whistler, BC and the first Canadian male athlete to win gold in the pipe, (2015) and by Noah Bowman, 2012 X Games silver medallist and 5^th at the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
 
On the ladies’ side, Cassie Sharpe, who won gold at the 2016 X Games in Oslo, will be competing for a second time, where she finished 4^th last year. Sharpe’s gold was Canada’s first gold medal for the ladies’ superpipe event since Roz Groenewoud’s Aspen victory in 2012.
 
The slopestyle event will feature the 2015 X Games bronze medallist Alex Bellemare, as well as teammates Alex Beaulieu-Marchand and Evan McEachran. Beaulieu-Marchand finished 5^th in the Big Air competition in Aspen in 2014, and 5^th in slopestyle in Tignes the previous year. As for McEachran, who won the 2014 AFP World Championship, he will be competing in the X Games for a third time. They are joined by their teammate on the ladies’ side Kaya Turski, who has won a total of eight gold medals at the X Games, of which four won in Aspen, and four others in Tignes, more than any competitor in this sport’s history.
 
Vincent Gagnier will be representing Canada in the Big Air competition.
 
For this year’s edition, there will be a final for each event, set up in a “best of two runs” format. In total, 12 men will take part in each of the superpipe and slopestyle competitions. On the ladies’ side, eight athletes will be taking part in each of the events.

The week’s detailed schedule is available here.   NextGen Athletes at the World Cup in Seiser Alm, Italy While athletes of the national team will be at the X Games, the NextGen slopestyle athletes will have the chance to compete against other athletes of the World Cup circuit in Seiser Alm, Italy, from January 26 to 28, 2017. On the men’s side, Noah Morrison, Max Moffat, Mark Hendrickson and Brendan Reid will be representing Canada. Remember that Moffat and Hendrickson finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the overall Nor-Am rankings last season. They will be accompanied by Sochi gold medallist, Dara Howell.   The schedule for the Seiser Alm competition in available here.

Upcoming Events (January 2017) X Games – Jan. 26 to 31 – Aspen – Halfpipe, Slopestyle FIS World Cup – Jan. 26 to 28 – Seiser Alm – Slopestyle FIS World Cup – Jan. 28 – Calgary – Moguls

For more information and media inquiries please contact:  Dominique Ladouceur, Manager, Athlete Relations Cell: 514.576.2379 Email: dominique@freestylecanada.ski