Errol Kerr

Jamaican skier Errol Kerr has his eyes set on the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Jamaica hopes to make an entry into the 2010 Winter Olympics after a gap of almost 18 years; their last appearance being in the Calgary games, where they sent a bobsleigh team. The team was actually the basis of the film ‘Cool Runnings’, which was filmed in 1993.

Kerr is just 22 years of age and was raised near Lake Tahoe. Jamaica’s hopes rest on the shoulders of this one young man, who is also a part of the US ski cross team; the team which has earned him his world ranking of 24. Despite being a part of this team, Kerr wishes to represent his father’s country during the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Kerr has recently made a trip to Jamaica in hopes of raisin $200,000 USD in sponsorship. This is his first trip to Jamaica and he’s hoping to get enough sponsorship to pay for a coach, cover traveling costs and compete as a Jamaican.

The Jamaican Minister for Sport and the head of the Jamaican Ski association have been supporting Kerr towards his dream of taking part in the Vancouver games in 2010. However Kerr has also been told that by June 1^st, he must state his allegiance to Jamaica to the International Ski federation. Unless he does this, he will not be able to ski for Jamaica in the future.

So, all of us can look out for this star cross skier in the Vancouver Winter Olympics of 2010.

Julia & Mark Marino

Julia and Mark Marino, a set of siblings from Winchester, have been establishing themselves nationally in snowboarding and freestyle skiing. The duo combined and won four medals just last month at the USA Snowboard Association national championships held in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Out of the four medals they bagged, two were silver and two were bronze.

Julia Marino, an avid soccer and lacrosse player as well, is a 16-year-old sophomore currently attending Arlington Catholic High School. Out of the four medals the duo won, Julia won three of them- one silver each in slope style and half-pipe, and a bronze in skier cross.

Though Julia has been maintaining consistency in her wins since 2006, she seemed pretty disappointed with her performance during the national championships. She said, “I had won gold in all 14 qualifying events leading up to nationals, so I really expected to sweep. I fell on my chest the day before in a practice round and hurt my sternum. With the altitude change and all, it was really painful. I guess, though, when you take the injury into consideration, my overall finish was satisfying, because after I hurt myself, I really wasn’t even sure if I could compete.” However, after her three-medal win, she was awarded with the title of outstanding performer by the USA Snowboard Association.

Mark Marino is just a year younger than his sister and is a freshman at Arlington Catholic High School. He bagged a bronze in skier cross after earning a berth in the final run by winning two heats against over 80 skiers! Mark said, “I was really nervous because this was my first national, but once I started, I was OK. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of people from all over the country. Winning a medal in my first try was very exciting.” Apart from skiing, Mark enjoys playing football, and like his sister, lacrosse.

The Marino siblings have been skiing ever since the tender age of five, and hope to win many more medals in the future.

Vahur Teppan

Senior Vahur Teppan’s skiing carrier gets yet another breakthrough. The Alaskan skier who has just finished his final race as a member of the Alaska Nanooks team, has been invited to be a part of Estonia’s national B team. This team is just one step away from the international level.

When asked about the invite, Teppan said, “It is nice that Estonia contacted me and to know that they kept an eye on me. They have really good coaches there, and it’s a good opportunity to train with the best Estonia guys. I am going for sprinting, so it’s a lot of man-on-man racing: it’s not like you will be skiing alone in places. So it is really important to be training with the best in head-to-head situations. It’s a lot easier than training on your own.”

Estonia’s national B team will allow Teppan to train with the team and take part in various events, with hopes of catching the attention of coaches who choose the World Cup racers.

Head coach of Estonia’s national B team, Scott Jerome explained how the B team gives an opportunity for skiers to reach the international A team. He felt that Teppan’s career would be going in the right direction if he joined the B team. Jerome also mentioned how most of the B team players fund themselves, but also cruised in the fact that getting sponsors wouldn’t be a problem for Teppan.

Teppan has many achievements to his credit. He took part in the both the freestyle and classic sprint races at the Canmore Nordic Centre, finishing 19^th place overall. He also competed once at the international level, before joining Nanooks. He won the 28^th place in a World Cup event hosted by Estonia in January 2006. He also managed to land two All-American spots at the NCAA Skiing Championships in March 2008.

So sooner or later we can look forward to seeing Senior Vahur Teppan training with Estonia’s national B team.

Shaun White Wins 4-Star Snickers Classic and Popcorn Wallride

Bright sunshine, loud music and fantastic entertainment; the last and final event of the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour could not have gone more perfectly in Saas-Fee, Switzerland. The final event was the 4-Star Snickers Classic and Popcorn Wallride, which took place on Saturday, April 19^th 2008, with the riders displaying their moves in full-swing.

Shaun White, making his second European appearance this season, bagged first place after performing tricks such as FS 180 to a crazy Inverted Cab 9 up top, a BS 9 and a huge Cab 1080. White walked away with 700 TTR ranking points and $10,000 USD. In addition to this, White also received $50,000 USD for his stellar performances in every contest he entered, and also for achieving the number one spot in the Swatch TTR rankings, having received his 6^th TTR result. Though White currently holds the number one Swatch TTR position, his fellow American rider, Kevin Pearce, retains the title of tour champion.

The event took place on top of a glacier in Saas-Fee. The slopestyle course was designed specifically to allow riders to perform their various unique tricks, and impress the judges. The course had a kicker in the middle, a step up kicker in the bottom and a gap to table to feature up top. However, despite all its scenic beauty, the audience’s attention was focused on the riders at all times.

Shaun White was by-far the most entertaining, but the second and third place winners had a few tricks up their sleeves as well. The second place winner, Laivisto performed a Half Cab to BS 7, a jaw-dropping Double Back Flip, a FS 900 and a Switch BS 7. Fredi K., a Swiss legend, bagged third place after performing a Half Cab to FS 3 melon, a Cab 9, a BS 9 and a Switch BS 7. Laivisto and Fredi K. walked away with $6000 USD and $3000 USD respectively.

So, after 10 months of sheer entertainment, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour bids good-bye to another successful year.

Janica Kostelic Retired

Croatian skier Janica Kostelic announced her retirement from skiing on Thursday, April 17^th, 2008, to put an end to her continuous string of injuries. Although Kostelic has been considered one of the greatest and strongest female alpine skiers, she had to undergo ten knee injuries and three knee surgeries over the course of her career! In a recent news conference, Kostelic announced, “The moment has come to end my career, although I still want to ski. The main reason for this decision are injuries. I have suffered so many injuries and pain and don’t want to go through this again.”

Kostelic has been coached by her father, Ante, and started skiing and the young age of three. So it’s no surprise how good she is! The International Olympic Committee gave Kostelic a scholarship to help her with her training when she was just 13 years of age. Despite many thinking she needed a top-of-the-line coach, her father worked out perfectly for her. At the age of 16, she qualified for her country’s team in the 1998 Nagano Olympics and her best finish was 8^th place in the combined.

Kostelic was raised as a typical teenager in Croatia, watching Die Hard and becoming a part of the Bruce Willis fan club. Now at the age of 25, she holds the status of quadruple Olympic champion and has won nine gold medals from world championships and Olympic games since 2002. Kostelic has also collected three overall World Cup titles and achieved a record points total after winning nine world cup events across all five disciplines.

After a dysfunctional thyroid, knee surgeries and various other persistent injuries, Janica Kostelic now says she wants to focus on her newly-opened beauty parlor, and lead a normal life, keeping her private life away from the media and limelight for a while.

John Nicoletta - Tragic Death

On Friday, April 11, 2008 Colorado extreme skier John Nicoletta died in a jump- off-rock-wall during the Subaru Freeskiing World Championships at the Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood. Nicoletta lost control while attempting to ski off a band of rock known as the “Headwall”, leading to his death at the tender age of 27. The assistant emergency medical services chief of the Girdwood Fire Department, Terry Kadel, described Nicoletta tumbling down head over heels down the side of a mountain which measures up to 3000 feet above the valley ground.

Kadel had seen Nicoletta cart wheeling towards his death during a live broadcast in a restaurant where he was picking up food. Even though the fire station was called upon immediately, they were unable to help, as Nicoletta had stopped breathing and was in cardiac arrest. A helicopter ambulance, which had been called upon at the same time, was unable to attend to Nicoletta as they were busy carrying a different patient to another destination. The impact of the fall was so severe that he died as soon as he hit solid ground, with his helmet instantly falling off.

Alaska state trooper, Sergeant Bryan Barlow said the cause of Nicoletta’s death has been finalized as “massive blunt force trauma to the chest”. Commonly described as an “ex-Eastcoaster”, Nicoletta was one among 70 men and 26 women who qualified for the extreme competition at Alyeska, fighting for the cash prize of $12,500. Nicoletta had finished second at the Subaru Telluride Freeskiing Open just two months ago, and had featured in various ski videos as well. After Nicoletta’s fall on Friday, the competition had been halted. But after discussions with various competitors, the competition has been resumed once again.

Girdwood fire Chief Bill Chadwick, did however admit that with increasing new areas being opened up at Alyeska for the ski competition, the risk factor increases as well.

Tribute Paid to Wallace Westfeldt by Family & Friends

The friends and family of snowboarder Wallace Westfeldt have paid him tribute after his horrific and shocking death on the 4th of April whilst snowboarding for a film just outside Aspen.

Wallace was only 22 and was filming for a movie when something went when he fell from a cliff and suffered several injuries including internal bleeding.

His death has shocked the snowboarding community and on the 8th of April a tribute was paid to him and over 500 turned out.

Aksel Lund Svindal - Back & Better

Just four months after Aksel Lund Svindal (Axel Lund) is back on the slopes and back to winning again.

On the 27th of November 2007 Axel Lund was badly injured during an accident during training. He landed a jump badly and after going through a safety fence he broke several bones in his face and took several other injuries.

However, now Axel is back and he is doing great. Last weekend at Verbier he won the High Five at Verbier beating some of the best world class skiers that competed in past world championships.

This is also a landmark for Axel, not just because he did well, but because this was one of his first major and proper events that he has taken part it after his accident.

Axel was obviously delighted with his result. He was congratulated by James Blunt and here is what he said:

“I’m really pleased, this has been a funny and exciting day for me, you can’t compare it to a World Cup race, but for sure it’s a good feeling to have been so competitive throughout the entire day and to reach the final of that parallel slalom,” Svindal said afterwards. “Winning is always good, whatever kind of competition you’re entering.”

Good luck to Axel in upcoming competitions.