Quebec City Jamboree set to wrap up 2018/19 big air World Cup season
Mar 14, 2019·Freeski Park & Pipe
The third and final competition of the 2018/19 FIS Freeski big air World Cup season is slated to take place this weekend in Quebec City, with the third iteration of the Jamboree event set for qualifications on Thursday and finals on Saturday afternoon.
Again this year the Jamboree will take place at one of the most incredible venues in freesking, as the 40m tall and 90m long scaffolding jump set-up located between two converging highway overpasses will play a host to the season’s final big air competition. And, based on the success of the previous editions, the organisers expect more than 15 thousand people to fill up both lanes of the nearby highway and watch some of the world’s best freeskiers and snowboarders heat things up on what’s sure to be an exciting evening of riding.
In the ladies event all eyes will be on Canada’s Elena Gaskell, as the 17-year-old skier from Vernon, BC, is currently leading the big air World Cup rankings and looking to get on the podium in Quebec City to clinch the crystal globe.
With 150 points after two competitions, Gaskell has a 50-point advantage over her closest competitor Mathilde Gremaud (SUI), and it’s just down to those two skiers in the battle for the big air World Cup title.
Gremaud needs a win in Quebec City while Gaskell would have to finish no higher than fourth if the Swiss skier is able to overcome the deficit and surpass the Canadian. However, if Gaskell manages to finish on the podium on Saturday, the big air title will be hers along giving her the shiny World Cup crystal globe and putting her name in the history books.
But with the likes of Coline Ballet-Baz (FRA), Kea Kuehnel (GER), Silvia Bertagna (ITA) and Megan Oldham (CAN) also eager to wrap up the big air World Cup season on a high note, it will be interesting to see how their performance will impact the race for the title between Gaskell and Gremaud.
Thing could be even more dramatic over on the men’s side where Andri Ragettli (SUI) is leading the big air World Cup ranking with a slightest of margins, sitting just 10 points ahead of second overall Bird Ruud (NOR). And while both riders will strive to finish on the podium also in Quebec City, the most likely scenario is that whoever of those two finishes higher on Saturday afternoon, he will probably also snag the title and take home the globe.
But besides Ragettli and Ruud and their battle for the overall victory, there will be a couple more riders looking to jump on the highest step of the podium this weekend, and taking into account what we’ve seen so far during two training days on the scaffold jump downtown in Quebec City, the level of riding will up to the ceiling.
Looking at the starting list, count on strong performances from the local hero Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN), as well as Alex Bellemare (CAN), Nicholas Goepper (USA), Kai Mahler (SUI), Christian Nummedal (NOR) or the 2019 big air world champion Fabian Boesch (SUI), just to name a few of those riders who can easily step it up on Saturday.
And with a couple of less-known riders also ready to throw down hammers this weekend, the Jamboree event in Quebec City is shaping up to be an exciting and entertaining conclusion to the 2018/19 big air World Cup season. All in all we’re looking forward to seeing two days of the best city big air action right in a place that many consider a breeding ground for some of the biggest names in our sport.
The qualifications are set to get underway on Thursday with men dropping in from 10:30 EST and ladies following up at 12:45. Finals are scheduled for Saturday at 16:00.
WATCH LIVE:
ORF Sport + (Austria), TVA Sports 2 and stream on www.cbc.ca (Canada), Eurosport player (Europe), Yle Areena (Finland), NRK 2 (Norway), Polsat Sport News (Poland).
QUICK LINKS
Quebec City FIS data page (event programme, start lists, live scoring, results)
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