Ukkohalla Opening Ceremony & qualifiers… Thursday 30 July

Hardly any sleep as the whole chalet turned into a sauna overnight, but a stunning sunny day greeted us and official training began after the Dutch at 08:37 precisely!! This was the last chance for practice before the competition began officially in the afternoon, so everyone was really pushing themselves, with inevitable injuries! Sarah flipped on a raley and smacked her arm on her board, Tor came down heavy off the kicker on her knee and Sophie took a nasty back edge.

A Jacuzzi and hot shower before breakfast was needed to steady nerves and properly wake up before watching the German team’s training to assess the main competition. No real surprises but the girls have certainly stepped it up from last year in Bursa, Turkey with more Blind Judges and roll to blinds featuring!

We set up for team photos before heading off to the official competition opening ceremony where they presented a reindeer to celebrate Finland’s part! We were all sweltering in our tracksuits so the poor thing must have been melting!!

Then the competition was finally open; what we’ve been practicing for all week. The Barmy Army set up camp on the bridge with as many Union Jack towels and flags draped over the rails as possible. With every rider out on the water, in true Team GB tradition we were loud and proud!

First up for the girls qualifiers was Chloe Goudie who laid down a solid first run with both a krypt and raley, but on her second run, after nailing a steezy back lip on the dragon slider, a heel 360 off the small kicker a krypt and ollie 360, the motor tower failed to pull a line in interfering with her raley cut, so she called for a re-run, but none of this run so far would count! So the little ripper that is Chloe went out and nailed it all over again, total consistency to the same point, then she added her raley and went for a toe 5. Chloe’s tough competition came from current world champion Anna-Laura Brabander who landed an S bend in her run! The standard in the girls is something else!

Junior Ladies Heat 1 saw Tor Young go through to the final despite being in obvious discomfort with her sore knee from this morning. In her first run she fell on an ollie 360 after battling through two raleys and a backroll, but grimaced through the pain in her second run to land her Blind Judge and go through to the final on Saturday giving her all tomorrow to rest up her knee.

In Heat 2, Ellie Taylor laid down a great first pass back lipping the flat bar, getting a 360 off the kicker and getting in both a raley and krypt before losing the handle on the kicker. For her second run she got a great 270 on the flatbar but later crashed on her backroll. Ellie goes on to LCQs tomorrow to fight for a place in the final.

Sophie Cordery had a tremendous day’s riding on both passes taking her straight through to the final on Saturday with Tor. For her first run she laid down a clean run of air tricks and ollie spins with raley and krypt, but came into her own at the end of the course with a massive floaty tantrum and the steeziest back lip over the transfer A frame in the competition so far. For her second run, she upped the anti improving her kicker 180 to a 360, making her raley even bigger and also her tantrum, but finishing with the same stylie rail skills from before.

The final girls group of the day saw Steph Caller and Kirsteen Mitchell battle it out for their place in the final. The standard in Open Ladies has grown with ferocious speed over the last couple of years and these girls had some stiff competition. Controversially Maxine Sapulette wasn’t there for the qualifier but will be allowed to ride in the LCQ, but the GB girls proved they deserve their standing there on Saturday. First up Steph showed off her rail skills by styling out a 360 on the wall ride after a solid display of sliding, blind 180, raley, krypt backroll and regular spins. For her second run, she added more blind spins but upped the style factor.

The intensity and execution of Kirsteen Mitchell’s runs saw her qualify in first place with a series of massive air tricks including a krypt, backroll, front to fakie, tantrum off the big kicker but sealed her first run with a pressed out boardslide over the transfer A frame. When she came to do her second run, she was still way out in the lead so took the opportunity to try a new sequence of front flip, roll to blind but fell on the following blind judge.

Great day’s riding from Team GB. In Mini Boys both Scott Rosewell and Liam Peacock go through to the final, as do Freddie Carter and Birthday Boy Josh McHales in Boys.

Saturday 01 August 2009 | Permalink