Mike Riddle expected an announcement about the inclusion of his sport, ski halfpipe, in the Olympic Games, and was waiting anxiously by his computer early Wednesday (April 6). When it came, it was "a huge load off my mind," the 麻豆社国产resident said.
"Now I feel like I can start focusing on what I need to do to go to Russia," Riddle, the current world champion in the event, said -referring, of course, to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
For Riddle and other members of Canada's de facto "national" ski halfpipe team, it also means a huge jump in prestige, not to mention funding. Riddle, Roz Groenewoud, Sarah Burke - all 麻豆社国产residents -and their teammates can expect funding from Sport Canada and Own the Podium to follow Wednesday's decision by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include ski halfpipe and women's ski jumping in the Games program for 2014.
Until now, the struggle to have women's ski jumping included has garnered far more attention than have efforts to get freestyle events such as ski halfpipe and slopestyle into the Games, with female Canadian and American jumpers having worked unsuccessfully to get their sport into the Vancouver 2010 Games. And with the ski jumps at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP), it's expected that the inclusion of women's jumping in the 2014 Olympics will result in an increase in the number of ski-jumping events at WOP in the future - though there are currently no female ski jumpers based in the Sea to Sky Corridor.
The inclusion of ski halfpipe is expected to have a significant impact in short order. Until now, the half-dozen Canadian athletes competing in ski halfpipe at the World Cup level have had to make do with private funding and personal sponsorship money. They have even had to pay their own coach, Trennon Paynter, out of pocket.
Despite that, Riddle and Groenewoud captured the world ski halfpipe championships in February in Park City, Utah, and Burke has enjoyed immense success in the sport on the Winter X Games circuit and elsewhere. If they can stay healthy, they're expected to contend for medals in Sochi.
Both said that because of the halfpipes and other training facilities in Whistler, they expect that the newly "official" Canadian team will be based in the Sea to Sky.
"A bunch of us already live here, and with the increased facilities in Whistler, I think that we will be spending a lot of the next three years here in the corridor," said Groenewoud, 21, a Calgary native who has lived in 麻豆社国产for the past three years while training and attending Quest University.
Said Riddle, "I'm based there, but we travel a lot, so November to May, you're not there a lot. And in the summer I work in Whistler, so I'll be out there pretty much through summer."
It's also expected that the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association will hire Paynter, a 麻豆社国产resident, as national ski halfpipe coach once funding is in place.
Riddle said he isn't the only one who thinks that with the success to date and the new Olympic status, Canada has a bright future in the discipline.
As for his own future, he said, "I'm 24. I've just got to stay fit, avoid injuries, go to the gym lots and I should be in my physical prime for 2014."
