FREESTYLE SKIING. Welcome to the second day of the inaugural AFP World Championships at the World Skiing Invitational during the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC. Day two saw the superpipe portion of the event begin with men's and women's qualifiers, the only one of the three disciplines that was open to anyone and everyone who wanted to get their shred on.

Despite not making it to finals, Megan Gunning was by far the most stoked person on the hill today, as it was her first time competing since recovering from knee surgery. Join us in welcoming her back!

Mother Nature continued to smile upon the host of the 2010 Winter Olympics today, as 37 competitors (11 women and 26 men) made their way to top of the handsome 22-foot pipe on Blackcomb Mountain amidst a heaping helping of sunshiny goodness, fun times and hilarious rants from event emcees Reed Speedman and Josh Bibby.

Superpipe at the Telus World Ski & Snowboard Festival in Whistler, BC

And throughout the quintessential spring skiing day, the young and hungry athletes of tomorrow gave it their all during their two runs in an effort to score themselves a spot in Sunday's semi-finals against the long and threatening list of pre-qualifed athletes.

Up first were the 11 ladies, of which only the top three would move on, and in the end it was Japan's Manami Mitsuboshi, Hannah Haupt and Dara Howell, who got the nod from the judges thanks to some solid 5s and 7s from each of them.

Dara Howell

In the men's department, just five highly coveted spots were available, and were awarded to Colin 'Chaz' Vaykovich, who threw left and right 9s, a 5 and an unique looking flair; Sam Thackray, who displayed some of the smoothest skiing of the day; Billy Mann, who went balls to the walls with a huge 5, cork 9, back-to-back alley-oop flat 5s and a 7; Kyoshi Terada, who absolutely crushed it on his second run with a 5, 9, 7 to switch 7, and BC's very own Hunter Visser, who was simply unbeatable today after stomping a 9 to 7 to switch 7 to flat 5 and another 7 in his run.

Colin 'Chaz' Vaykovich

Also on hand and very much worth mentioning was skiing's crown prince of partying, Under Armour team manager Scott Hibbert, who decided to enter the contest today for old times sake and threw down a 9 along with his patented backflip to switch, but unfortunately crashed on the landing and injured his shoulder. We all gave him a standing ovation for his awesome effort though.

Ladies and gentlemen, Scott Hibbert

Stay tuned for more from the AFP World Championships at the World Skiing Invitational in Whistler, which continues tomorrow night with Big Air and culminates on Sunday with Men's and Women's Superpipe Semi-Finals and Finals, along with the crowning of all the 2011 AFP Champions.

Words by Jeff Schmuck
Photos by Dan Brown
Newschoolers.com
April 22nd, 2011

Results

Men
1) Hunter Visser
2) Kyoshi Terada
3) Billy Mann
4) Sam Thackray
5) Colin Vaykovich

cut-off
6) Cameron Smith
7) Kevin Labatte
8) Aaron Mackay
9) Alex Mochan
10) Brendan Mackay
11) Collin Jefferies
12) Benjamin Ogilvie
13) Mathew Wilcox
14) Lukas Bowman
14) Riley Culver
16) Evan Berg
17) Austin Karker
18) Stephen Jefferies
19) Yukon De Leeuw
20) Ryan Waddell
21) Hartley Vibert
22) Garett Northey
23) Max Heard
24) Quinn Waddell
25) Thomas Pool
26) Scott Hibbert

Women
1) Dara Howell
2) Hannah Haupt
3) Manami Mitsuboshi

cut-off
4) Megan Gunning
5) Cassandra Sharpe
6) Chloe Lee
7) Amy Sheehan
8) Charity Mersereau
9) Jackie Atkinson
10) Maddie Eakin
11) Yurie Yamazaki