Aspen – The skiercross crew at the Winter X Games doesn’t really mingle well with the punked-out jib skiing posse. And despite the fact that almost every skiercross racer grew up ski racing, they don’t really blend with the rules-riddled racing scene.
They are skiing’s outcast warriors – watching their boardercross colleagues debuting in the Olympics while they fight for love from an attention-deficited X Games crowd that yens for big air and pipe carving.
“I think skiercross is the future of skiing,” said Idaho’s Reggie Crist, the 38-year-old skiercross veteran who won silver in the Winter X Games skiercross race Sunday and gold in last year’s roller derby on skis. “It is so easy to understand: The first person down the hill wins. Most of us come from a ski-racing background, and in that sport it’s difficult to see the difference between the winner and 10th place because you are talking about a 100th of a second. This is the foundation of skiing: Every ski competition can trace its roots back to a bunch of buddies on top of a hill getting ready to race each other to the bottom.”
Crist and his skiercross comrades are frustrated with their battle to keep skiercross on the good side of fringe sport. Earlier this month, skiercross was nixed from the U.S. Freeskiing Open in Vail, further threatening a sport that lacks a healthy circuit of races and contests.
Boardercross is the big buzz at next month’s Winter Olympics in Italy. In the 2002 Games, the boarders ruled the roost in their pipe debut.
Skiers need to expand their Olympic presence beyond staid racing and spice things up with skiercross, say skiercrossers, who gird themselves in many levels of armor before racing ski-to-ski through a meandering course of undulations and jumps. It’s made-for- television racing, they say. It’s skiing’s NASCAR, and there is a palpable NASCAR feel among skiercross audiences. Many secretly pine for carnage. There’s no question skiercross and boardercross contests offer the most devastating wrecks.
“If the courses are right, it’s pretty cool to watch,” said Chris Del Bosco, a 23-year-old from Vail who won skiercross bronze Sunday. Del Bosco ski-raced in his teens but races downhill mountain bikes for a career.
“The mix of big airs and features with head-to-head racing makes it one of the best spectator sports out there,” he said. “You have to be a really good skier to compete.”
There are whispers that skiercross could be included in the 2010 Winter Olympics at Whistler. It will require a hard fight to convince Olympic chieftains that skiercross does indeed belong under the same spotlight as traditional ski races.
“The riders are all trying to push hard to get it in the Olympics,” said Karin Huttary, the 28-year-old women’s skiercross gold medal winner from Austria. “But it’s hard. We are not really alpine racing and we are not really freestyle skiing, so it’s a challenge to know how we can elevate our sport and make it better.”
The first goal is to cajole skiing’s primary governing body, FIS (International Ski Federation) into taking a closer look at skiercross, said Crist, one of the United States’ most fervent skiercross disciples.
“In my opinion the reason skiing has been relatively stagnant over the last 10 years is because of the FIS,” said Crist, who ended a distinguished X Games career Sunday. “They are a group of European good ol’ boys who are stuck in the mind-set that World Cup skiing is the only form of ski racing. They are really blowing it by keeping (skiercross) out of the Olympics. It will make it there eventually, but the FIS needs to figure it out and wake up.”
Criticism of the FIS is old news in the ski world. Freeskiers are fond of dissing the race-centric federation.
“I think they are a little afraid of skiercross,” said Lars Lewén, 30, a former racer from Austria who took gold in men’s skiercross Sunday. “Skiercross is taking a lot of riders from the racing world and the FIS doesn’t like that. It only makes sense to have skiercross next to boardercross in the Olympics.”
Staff writer Jason Blevins can be reached at 303-820-1374 or jblevins@denverpost.com.
RESULTS
Men
Skier X
1. Lars Lewén, Sweden, 55.384 seconds.
2. Reggie Crist, Sun Valley, Idaho, 55.662.
3. Chris Del Bosco, Vail, 55.364.
4. Tomas Kraus, Czechoslovakia, 56.399.
5. Zach Crist, Sun Valley, Idaho, 55.313.
6. Casey Puckett, Aspen, 54.615.
Skiing slopestyle – best trick
1. TJ Schiller, Canada, 91.33 points.
2. Charles Gagnier, Canada 89.33.
3. Andreas Hatveit, Norway 87.66.
4. Candide Thovex, France 83.00.
5. Jon Olsson, Sweden 82.00.
6. John Spriggs, Vail, 81.66.
7. Sammy Carlson, Tigard, Ore. 80.66.
8. Corey Vanular, Canada 79.00.
9. Simon Dumont, Bethel, Maine 78.33.
10. Peter Olenick, Carbondale, 75.00.
Moto X best trick
1. Jeremy Stenberg, Winchester, Calif., 93.00 points.
2. Mat Rebeaud, Switzerland, 92.40
3. Ronnie Faisst, Mays Landing, N.J., 90.60.
4. Nate Adams, Glendale, Ariz., 90.40.
5. Brian Deegan, Temecula, Calif., 88.00.
Superpipe qualifiers
1. Mason Aguirre, Duluth, Minn., 89.33 points.
2. Louie Vito, Bellefontaine, Ohio, 87.00.
3. Shaun White,Carlsbad, Calif., 86.66.
4. Danny Kass, Mammoth Lakes, Calif., 86.33.
5. JJ Thomas, Golden, 85.00.
6. Antti Autti Finland, 83.00.
7. Chad Otterstrom, Breckenridge, 82.00.
8. Risto Mattila, Finalnd, 81.33.
9. Mike Goldschmidt, Stratton, Vt., 79.00.
10. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, N.H., 77.66.
Women
Skier X
1. Karin Huttary, Austria, 59.025 seconds.
2. Gro Kvinlog, Norway, 61.740.
3. Ophelie David, France, 59.689.
4. Sanna Tidstrand, Sweden, 60.009.
5. Magdalena Jonsson, Sweden, 62.091.
6. Virginie Costerg, France, 62.534.
