This morning marked the first finals of the Winter Dew Tour season. At 9 am, the six finalist ladies took to the superpipe to flaunt their skills in hopes of winning cash, glory and the coveted Dew Tour trophies. In perfect opposition to the last couple days weather, the athletes were greeted to a snowy and gray day. Fortunately, the Alli folks had lights set up "just in case." So, under the lights, it was Canada's Dania Assaly that took home the first Dew Tour trophy, beating out five of her contemporaries.
Assaly, the only female to land a 900 today, was also the only competitor to crack into the 90s. Anchored with the 900, Assaly utilized 540s, straight airs and a 720 at the end. Dania had to roll the dice after she sat in 4th place after the first runs through. But the risk paid dividends as Dania topped the first Dew Tour podium of the skiing season.
Switzerland's Mirjam Jaeger grabbed the second place spot, but she was a sizable 8.25 points behind Assaly. Mirjam didn't pull out the 900 this morning, rather she opted for left and rightside 540s, and an alley-oop 540 to up her technical score. behind Jaeger was Jess Cumming, who snags her second third place finish in as many weekends. A couple 540s, alley-oops and a 720 at the end of her run secured her the spot.
Anais Caradeux of France ended up fourth with her back-to-back 540s. Caradeux, the smallest competitor in the field today, may have been affected by the snow in the middle of the pipe, keeping her amplitude down from what we've seen from her. Newcomer Devin Logan couldn't quite keep her feet under her on either of her flares in her runs, but it's likely that we'll be seeing more of the young Logan. Rosalind Groenewoud, the winner of last week's Grand Prix, settled for sixth after crashing both her runs. Groenewoud, who easily had the biggest air of the morning, went down hard on both her 900s. Props are in order to Roz for not playing it safe and going for it, unfortunately, the gamble just didn't quite pay off today.
With the end of the event, the Dew Tour is roughly 1/4 over for the skiers. What does this do to the AFP Halfpipe rankings? Visit the organization's site and find out.Tomorrow holds the promised land of slopestyle for the women, so be sure to keep checking back for full recaps and photos.
