Winter X Games 13
Mono Ski Racer Felix Snow Seeded Fifth After Qualifying
By Craig Stein
Aspen, Colorado
Despite the heavily falling snow, marine-like fog, and slow track conditions, qualifying runs for Sunday’s Mono Skier X competition actually went down this afternoon on Buttermilk Mountain. Originally scheduled for Friday, qualifying was postponed due to inclement weather. The delay allowed racers to get a second full practice day on the hard core Winter X Games’ ski cross course.
"We typically have at least two opportunities to run before most competitions to get a feel for the layout," explains Felix Snow from Rico, Colorado.
With the late-day lighting and a curtain of huge snowflakes, it was tough to see the racers coming down the track but could certainly hear them landing their sit ski’s after the first jump. A loud slap and often a huge grunt accompanied the compression of the sleds mono shock as these athletes hurdled down the same course on which legend X skier Daron Rahlves and 4-peat Winter X Games gold medalist snowboarder X racer Nate Holland compete.
Felix smoothly cruised by the still photo position we had set up and continued down the course to finish with a time of 167.573. Having the third best time, in the first qualifying run, he was able to skip the second chance qualifier saving his strength and avoiding any chance of injury.
British racer, Andy Campbell, was not so lucky. He endured a nasty wreck when he rotated back to far while plunging over an obstacle. Landing on his back and head, breaking his femur, ending Andy’s Winter X Games 13 appearance.
Following the conclusion of qualifying, at the bar of Inn at Aspen, Felix Snow was exuberant having made it into his first X Games head-to-head Mono Skier X heats. In 2008 Felix had three timed starts and blew out of his equipment on each failing to make it to the finals. Felix is feeling confident and pumped-up for the semi- and final medal runs down the X course on Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s Mono Skier X tournament will begin around 2:30 PM and will be telecast on ESPN HD. Check it out to bolster all the adaptive athletes’ efforts and enjoy some fast paced action when four racers get out of the start house at once. Felix is scheduled to race the first heat with 2008 Winter X Games gold medalist K-J Van der Klooster who was pre-qualified to the semi-final round. Two racers from heats 1A and 1B will advance to the final medal run. Mono Skier X will follow the finals for Men’s and Women’s Skier X competitions.
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