We’ve racked up more than 8,000 votes through two rounds, and today we’re excited to unveil our semifinalists. On the men’s side, Tom Wallisch goes up against Henrik Harlaut and Gus Kenworthy faces off against Torin Yater-Wallace. For the ladies, young-gun Kelly Sildaru contends with Kaya Turski and Maude Raymond takes on Maddie Bowman.
As we had some mighty close matchups through round 2, we expect more of the same this time around. Every vote counts—vote now in the round of four.
About the SOTY contest:
The 2013 Skier of the Year is chosen by you, the FREESKIER faithful. Rather than allow the public to nominate skiers, however, we select the nominees, based on who we feel had the biggest impact on the sport in a given year. The selection process is never easy. Does one individual’s outstanding competition performance outweigh that other guy’s banger film segment? It’s a fiery debate, as staffers don’t always see eye to eye. Throughout the discussion, we contemplate all we have seen over the past 12 months; we reflect on film after film, edit after edit, contest results, magazine exposure, the proverbial extracurricular activities and more.
By the time we’re done, we’re confident our selections are fair and well-rounded—an accurate representation of the sport’s many facets. Having selected our 16 male and 8 female skiers, the next step is to create the brackets. To do this, we put all of the names in a box, shake well, and draw them out one by one. While this results in some ultra tough matchups—e.g. Sammy vs. Henrik in round 1 this year—the fact remains: each voter should theoretically know who they feel is the deserving winner from the get-go. Might as well get the hard part over with right off the bat, yes? To those who partake in the voting, we extend thanks. For those who have questions about the nominations and/or the voting process, we welcome your feedback in the comments section below.
#SOTY13 round 2 voting breakdown:
Matchup 1:
Henrik Harlaut (51%) defeats Candide Thovex (49%)
Matchup 2:
Tom Wallisch (67%) defeats Parker White (33%)
Matchup 3:
Gus Kenworthy (50%) defeats Clayton Vila by a mere 14 votes (50%)
Matchup 4:
Torin Yater-Wallace (65%) defeats Ahmet Dadali (35%)
Matchup 5:
Kaya Turski (78%) defeats Angel Collinson (22%)
Matchup 6:
Caroline Gleich (44%) defeated by Kelly Sildaru (56%)
Matchup 7:
Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen (21%) defeated by Maude Raymond (79%)
Matchup 8:
Maddie Bowman (55%) defeats Elyse Saugstad (45%)
The round of 4 will be open through November 8. Cast your votes now.
