Day 7 - Finals and Closing Ceremony

Day 7 would bring the biggest day of the tournament as far as skiing goes for Team USA. There would be five event finals - Men's slalom, Women's trick, Men's trick, Women's jump, and Men's jump. That also means for our three event finalist Storm - he is going to be skiing three times today.

First up right at 8:30am was Men's slalom. Storm was first out for the US, and 6th off the dock. Came out at 14.25m (28) and ran it about as effortlessly as I have seen him take a pass. 13 m(32) was next and it looked a lot like the previous. 6 up, 6 down. Next was the trick 12m (35) pass that tripped him up in the prelims. He wanted to best his score of 3.5 from the prelims and take a shot at that podium. He got himself around 4, and then had time around 5, but when he got there, he got stood up. Not much angle for 6 - but Storm threw his whole body into it anyways, and when he got the wakes, gravity won and he did a cartwheel out of his ski. But a sweet score of 5 at 12m, which was enough for 4th place.

2nd to the last on the water - was Cale. Cale had the 2nd seed in the finals, but that was not what he wanted. Anything but a title here would have been less than what he had hoped for and been training for. He went out and set the bar with very clean 14.25m and 13m passes. Next was 12m - if he runs that, he is on the podium. Well, he ran it indeed. Now comes the 11.25m pass, the one that trips up so many really talented skiers. It didn't trip up Cale. He sliced and diced right through it. Coming back in at 10.75m (39.5off). The record is 4 at this pass. Cale got around one, took a mighty jerk at 2, and got himself around 3 with a lot of slack, and then got back to the wakes for an official score of 3 at 10.75. After the last skier got 5 at 11.25 - that only meant one thing - Cale is the World University Slalom Champion!

No time for rest, the women trickers are next. Our ladies were the top two seeds for the event.

Alex went first. It was pretty windy for the event and she needed to have unbelievable concentration to not let the wind throw her out of position. It didn't. Alex stood up both passes. She improved on her 2nd place prelim finish from earlier in the day - with a score of 7360! This would have been a new WUC World Record - if Regina hadn't broken the record in the prelims with a 7550. But for the finals - No one could top Alex. She stood alone on top of the podium as WUC World Trick Champion!


Regina who set the highest score of the weekend in the prelims, fell just a tiny bit short in the finals - scoring 6680 - just 110 points away from the podium. But I have a feeling she may see that American flag get raised for her once more.

Our Men trickers were next. If you remember - Storm just barely got himself in the finals with a trip up in the prelims. Well he took advantage of the opportunity and scored an 8230. This was enough for once again 4th place. He's hoping not to make this a trend.

Next was the #2 seed - Tomlin. He stood up that always important first pass, and only missed one trick in the second pass to put together a 8,800 points. This was enough for the silver medal! Another American flag being raised at the medal ceremony. Congratulations Tomlin!


Women's Jump was next. Team USA had the top two seeds, with Regina #2 and Alex #1. the wind was again giving it her all with a stiff tailwind. Regina went out first and popped off a nice opener around 44 meters (145 ft). Then on her second jump - she put it all together with a late solid cut that netted her a jump of 49 meters (161 ft.)!!! This jump was one tenth of a meter away from the WUC World Record.


Next up was Alex knowing what the score was to beat. She needed 42.8 m to get on the podium and 43.4m was in 2nd. On Alex's first jump she went over 44m and put herself into second. With the tailwind and everything else - Alex improved it to 45.9m (151 ft.) on her final jump and got herself the silver. So for the first time in the tournament, we had two American Flags raised at the medal ceremony. Congratulations to both of our lady jumpers - truly remarkable.
Men' Jump was the last event of the day. Ryan was the second one off the dock, meaning that he should finish in 11th if he holds true to seeding. Ryan's furthest jump ever was 51.9m (170ft). He said that he was gonna go for broke and go as far as he can - what has he got to lose? Well he truly did leave it all on the water. First jump was a nice opener that threw him on his heels in the tailwind. Next was a solid score around 49m. On jump three, the cut was way later, but Ryan stayed down through the wakes and made it to the jump right at the right time, and then exploded for a jump of 53.6m (176ft.). Thats right folks, he put out a personal best, in a huge tailwind, at the World Championships! This got Ryan 6th place - even beating out a few guys that went off a 6 foot ramp. Awesome job Ryan.

Storm was the next one. He was jumping 5.5ft ramp, so he had to go earlier than his seed. So he had to set the mark for others to try and match. He went out and kicked a pretty 59.9m (197ft) jump and left that score out there. Others launched, only one could catch him. Rodrigo from Chile put out a 60.0m jump beating Storm by one tenth of a meter. Storm finally got that podium position that he deserved all tournament - with the silver medal. Congrats Storm!


Overall standings - the USA was impressive as well with Regina taking 1st and Alex in 2nd. Storm took 2nd on the men's side.

And the team results.
TEAM USA BRINGS HOME THE GOLD!!!!

All results can be found at www.ncwsa.com/wuc

We are getting on our bus to Beijing right now, and then heading to airport. More updates when we all land. Thanks again for following TEAM USA, and feel free to leave any comments.