GBR Rock the Junior Worlds
The final event of the aerial ski season got under way at the Junior World Ski Championships in the beautiful resort of Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy from the 26th March. GBR were well represented with athletes competing in aerials, moguls, halfpipe, ski-cross and slopestyle along with support staff members. Team Wallace were out in force with Lloyd and Elodie both competing and parents Robin & Jilly on video and cheerleading duties.
Lloyd was looking to improve on his 12th place in the event last year and for Elodie it was her first experience of competition at this level.
Competition day dawned with a blanket of thick fog covering the air site which lifted gradually throughout training and the competition was safe to go ahead.
For her first jump, Elodie landed a good back tuck and achieved her personal best score of 54.00 points. Her second jump was a back layout but she didn’t quite manage to ski out cleanly, but in the event it didn’t matter because the girl ahead of her was a full 15 points better. She finished in 8th place which is truly remarkable for her first season as an aerialist.
Lloyd was up against stiff competition in the men’s event with many of the athletes performing doubles with three twists. Although Lloyd perfected that move himself on the water ramp last summer he chose to keep to his ‘tried and tested’ jumps in order to ensure the best result. His first jump was a huge Lay-Full and he followed that up with a Full-Full that he stuck right on his feet and secured him 8th place with 148 points total. He was delighted to have improved on his result from last year and along with his season best 17th place in a World Cup, he is showing tremendous potential for the future.
Elodie and Lloyd will be looking to return next year to the Junior World Championships and who knows…perhaps next year we may have a British aerialist on the podium.
Result Sheet Links
JWSC-2013 Ladies Aerials Results
JWSC-2013 Men’s Aerials Results