Another Podium for Harwood
Rell Harwood of the Stifel U.S. Freeski Team made it back-to-back slopestyle podiums, capturing third in Stoneham, Quebec, Canada for the final North American World Cup of the season.
The weather has been tricky all week, with high winds impacting the way athletes structured their runs. In qualifications earlier in the week, five Americans progressed to finals: Harwood, Alex Hall, Konnor Ralph, Mac Forehand and Cody LaPlante. Harwood was the sole woman to progress to finals, while Ralph and Hall were the top qualifiers in their respective heats.
Harwood put down a clean second run and scored a 74.11, bumping her into the third spot. Harwood toned down some of her usual style to cater to the challenging conditions, but still executed cleanly. Harwood was stoked to be on the podium, saying, "I had so much fun skiing today! The weather conditions were challenging, so I was just happy to put a run down that I was stoked on!". Harwood also added a new trick to her repertoire recently, a switch on front 450, that she got to use in her run today.
Harwood was joined on the podium by Italy's Flora Tabanelli in first and China's Ruyi Yang in second. This is Harwood's second consecutive slopestyle podium, having podiumed at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen - and just her second slopestyle podium ever.
On the men's side, Ralph was one of the only athletes in the field to put down a clean first run. It unfortunately didn't keep him in the top spot, but he came back on run two to secure a fourth place finish. Forehand also had a great second run, landing him in fifth for the day. Hall finished the day in 12th, with LaPlante 14th.
The men's side was won by Austria's Matej Svancer, with New Zealand's Luca Harrington and Ben Barclay in second and third, respectively.
The race for the Crystal Globe is still on, with one more slopestyle and big air competition to come in Tignes, France. The race is tight and three American men are vying for the Globe. Harwood currently sits in fourth overall for the women, and looks to bump up her standings by the end of the season.
