The BSF Freeskiing Team just finished up their week out at the USASA Nationals in Copper Mountain, Colorado. We had four athletes qualify this year in both slopestyle and rail jam. The athletes that qualified were Emmett Turner, Bentley Pham, Hudson Dail, and Ezekiel Copely. This was our biggest event of the season as it draws the very best in the nation to compete against each other on one of the best venues in the United States.
The week kicked off with a rail jam under the lights for Zeke and Hudson. They both competed in the 11-14 boys age group. Coming into this comp at the younger side of their group, it can be easy to feel intimidated by some of the older boys. They stepped up in a big way, throwing down the way they knew how. Hudson landed some clean front 450 outs, and Zeke landed his first ever back 450 out in comp!
Slopestyle was the next event for Zeke and Hudson a little later in the week. These boys had been working on their runs all season for this event. Hudson’s run consisted of a 720 safety, to a misty 720, to a cork 720 safety, showing judges that he could spin on three different axes. He ended the day with a great finish as the 23rd ranked athlete in the nation. Zeke’s run consisted of an unnatural 360 to an upright 720 to a cork 720. He finished his run on the rails with a back 270 out to a 270 on 270 out. Zeke showed the judges his ability to spin both directions and on multiple axes. Zeke finished with a ranking of 21st in the nation!
The older boys were up next with their slopestyle event. Emmett showed great perseverance and mental toughness going into his event. Training was not going his way and he decided to make a change to his run. After falling on his first attempt he put it all down on his second run with a 540 blunt, to a switch right 540, a cork 720, to a front swap 270 out, to a 270 on 270 out. Had he been in the second heat, he would have made finals but unfortunately it wasn’t enough for his heat. Leaving it all out there, Emmett ended up 15th in the nation!
Bentley showed up big in his Nationals debut. The level of skiing in his age group was like nothing coaches had ever seen before. With multiple kids throwing double corks in qualifiers, he knew he had to put something together that he had never done before. In his second qualifying run, Bentley did a switch right 540 japan, to a right cork 720 safety, to a double cork 1080, followed by a front swap 270 and a 270 on 270 out. This run really impressed the judges and he qualified for finals. He stuck with the same run for finals and after run one he was sitting in third place. He improved his first run score by adding a 270 on pretzel 270 out, but it wasn’t before getting bumped down two spots by a pair of athletes that stomped their second runs. Bentley ended the contest in 5th and missed the podium by only one point! Bentley held his head high knowing he put it all out there and is now ranked 5th in the nation!
