Category: Anna Segal

Segal comes so close, with no regrets

11/2/2014

Anna Segal of Australia waits for her score in the Freestyle Skiing Women's Ski Slopestyle © Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Australia’s Anna Segal has gone agonisingly close to an historic Slopestyle medal at the Sochi Games by finishing fourth at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park on Tuesday. Segal’s effort is the closest any Australian athlete has come to winning a medal at these Games.

The 27-year-old was in the bronze medal position after her first run and stayed there right until the end of the competition, only to be bumped off the podium by the last skier that could, Canadian Kim Lamarre.

“I kind of knew. I know her skiing and I know what the judges reward and I saw her stomp everything and I thought ‘yep, she’s got it’,” Segal said.

Lamarre moved into the bronze medal position with 85.00 points to surpass Segal’s 77.0 from her first run.

Melbourne-based Segal crashed on the final jump of her final run, which until that point had been cleaner and bigger than her earlier three runs of the day. Segal scored just 28.80 for that run.

“I came up to the jump and thought ‘I’m going to go for it’, went for it, didn’t have enough speed, landed, but I’m really glad that I tried it,” she said.

Canadian 18-year-old Dara Howell won gold with her sensational first run which earned 94.20 from the judges to be the event’s first Olympic champion. She was also the top competitor in qualifying.

American Devin Logan who was ranked fifth coming in to the final won the silver with 85.40 points from her first run.

With the pressure of the Olympic final there were some big crashes on the course. The experience and mental toughness of the 27-year-old Australian shone through.

“The last year has been the rollercoaster ride of my life,” a relieved Segal said.

The 2011 World Champion, shrugged off a cold and a preparation severely hampered by a knee injury to put herself right in the medal mix.

She even admitted she wouldn’t have skied in this competition if it wasn’t the Olympics and that she probably would have gone home for surgery.

“This road has been so long. I’ve seen so many of my friends from other countries go down, blow ACLs [anterior cruciate ligaments], not get selected on teams and the fact that I’m here, still skiing, I’ve got no regrets really.”

Earlier, in qualification, World Champion Kaya Turski (CAN) failed to progress to the final after two spectacular crashes and World Cup winner Keri Herman (USA) didn’t have her best day when it mattered, finishing 10th.

Andrew Reid | sochi2014.olympics.com.au

Henshaw does it again

22/12/2013

Russ Henshaw in action at Copper Mountain Photo: Sarah Brunson/U.S. Freeskiing

Slopestyle skier Russ Henshaw has continued his strong season with a third place in the Copper Mountain World Cup in the United States.

The podium finish has provided Henshaw with enough points to move into the world’s number two ranking.

Competing in an extremely high quality 16-man final, which included a number of local athletes using the event to secure team selection for next February’s Sochi Olympic Winter Games, the 23-year-old NSWIS athleten finished on the podium beside the winning Norwegian Andreas Haatveit and Nicholas Goepper from the United States.

A heavy dump of fresh snow in the last 24 hours made conditions challenging, prompting Henshaw to deliver two runs that he described as “solid” as opposed to having a high degree of difficulty.

Henshaw’s first run earned him 80.40 point, putting him in seventh place, with Goepper heading the leaders’ board on 89.20

However, the Australian’s competitive spirit kicked in prompting him to turn up the heat in his final run of the day, which saw him post a score of 87.80 points, giving him his second podium finish in a week. He also finished third in the prestigious Dew Tour last weekend in Breckenridge.

Henshaw said that while he was pleased to grab the bronze medal, which is the third time he has stood on a World Cup podium, the event was not his best performance of the season.

“It was super tough conditions today so I basically stuck to doing a run I knew I could do,” Henshaw said.

“I think today was more about doing a solid run rather than doing the absolute hardest run I could do.

“The conditions were tough so to even be able to put a run together felt great.

“We have had a lot of fresh snow over the last 24h and this made the course super slow which meant it was really difficult to make it over the jumps.”

This result has encouraged Henshaw to miss the World Cup events remaining before the Sochi qualification cut off date of January 20.

In the women's event AIS / VIS skier Anna Segal finished in 29th and fellow Aussie Annabel Blake was 26th. Both were unable to qualify for the final which was won by Canadian Dara Howell, American Darian Stevens was second and third went to American Grete Eliassen.

Henshaw on the podium in high class field

16/12/2013

Russ Henshaw (right) on the podium at the Dew Tour event © Dew Tour

Australian slopestyle skier Russ Henshaw kicked off his Northern Hemisphere season with a podium finish at the celebrated Dew Tour event in the United States today.

The 23-year-old NSW Institute of Sport athlete added a bronze medal to the win he recorded in the same event last year.

Today’s final was won by American Nick Goepper, with Canadian Alex Beaulieau-Marchand in second place.

With the Dew Tour being used to select some of the places on the USA Olympic Team for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the event attracted a high quality field of athletes seeking US selection and a strong contingent of overseas competitors looking to prepare for the World Cup season.

Henshaw said that finishing on the podium in such a high class field was a “dream come true” and he is looking to the Copper Mountain World Cup event in the United States on Friday with high expectation.

“The Dew tour is the first major event on the calendar so to podium here is a huge confidence boost going into the rest of the season,” Henshaw said.

“The Dew Tour is one of the biggest events in free skiing. It’s so tough to podium at this event and to actually get on the podium again is a dream come true.

“Coming into the first event of the season you get a feel for how everyone is riding and what tricks they are doing and to know you are right up there with them is an awesome feeling.”

To put his performance into context, Henshaw believes that the Dew Tour attracts one of the strongest line-ups of slopestyle skiers in the world.

The starting field of 30 athletes are all individually chosen from the best in the world who battle through qualifying to the final, which consists of 16 skiers.

Such was the quality of the field that Henshaw described the field as “one of the toughest I have ever competed in.”

And on top of that, fluctuating conditions, including gusty strong winds, made it a little more difficult for Henshaw to land his tricks and make it to the podium.

“Literally all the top guys were at this event,” Henshaw said. “Obviously the conditions were rough but that didn't take away from the level of riding we saw today,” he said.

“I had a really rough time in training due to the conditions. It was super windy and hard to judge speed, which you probably noticed in the competition.

“My first run of the competition, I caught a crazy gust of wind coming into the 3rd jump, so I decided not to do the switch double cork.

“The pressure was on to land my run and I can't even begin to describe how good it felt to put my 2nd run to my feet and to be bumped up onto the podium.”

Also in action was AIS Slopestyle athlete Anna Segal, who made her return to competition since injuring her knee in February 2013. Segal placed 11th in qualifying, narrowly missing out on the eight woman final.

Both athletes will compete next week in the World Cup event in Copper Mountain, Colorado, USA.

Slopestyle Skiing international season preparation update

9/10/2013

Anna Segal of Australia poses during a portrait session on May 15, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Segal is aiming to qualify for the Australian Winter Olympic Team in the Ski Slopestyle event for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.© Ryan Pierse/Getty Image

AIS scholarship holder Anna Segal attended a training camp at Mt Bachelor, USA in June where she worked on base skiing skills following her return to snow from a knee injury during the 2012-2013 season.

Training in Australia consisted of strength and conditioning work with John Marsden at Narrabeen, NSW in between on-snow training blocks at Thredbo Resort, NSW.

In late August, Anna continued to train on-snow in Cardrona, New Zealand, but opted out of competing at the New Zealand Winter Games as a precautionary measure. After ten days of on-snow training, Anna travelled to Salt Lake City, USA where she attended a two week water jump camp at the Utah Olympic Park. The aim of the camp was to work on cleaning up her existing skills and further increase her top end trick difficulty.

Anna has recently returned to Cardrona in early October for a spring camp, the goal of which is to consolidate the tricks trained on water and execute them on snow.

Segal to miss World Championships

12/2/2013

Slopestyle skier Anna Segal will not defend her World Championship title in Voss, Norway, next month due to a knee injury suffered last Friday.

The Australian Institute of Sport athlete was competing in her second World Cup event of the year in Silvaplana, Switzerland, when she damaged her knee during the competition.

Despite feeling immediate pain, she competed well in the final, finishing third.

Segal will fly home to Melbourne on Thursday and is likely to have minor arthroscopic surgery next week before embarking on an eight week recovery program.

“There was one feature at the very end (of the Silvaplana course), which was not a very difficult feature but it had a flat landing,” Segal said.

“I avoided it in training but I hit it after my first qualification run.

“Because it was such a hard flat landing my knee felt like crunch, instant pain.

”It hasn’t been the best year for me. I was hoping for more. I was looking forward to upping my game in competition. I have been skiing pretty well in training but I have not put together that win-a-competition run that I know I can do.”

Segal is hoping to return to on snow training before the end of the northern hemisphere winter.

Bronze Aussie

8/2/2013

Anna Segal on the podium IMAGE FIS

Australia’s reigning World Champion Anna Segal captured her second consecutive World Cup ski slopestyle podium finish in Silvaplana, Switzerland, today.

The 26-year-old Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete finished third, her second time on the podium in four World Cup starts, behind Norwegian Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen in the gold medal place, with British skier Katie Summerhayes second.

After posting the second highest score during the qualifying session to advance to the final, Segal was third on the points tally after her first run down the six feature 660 metre course, a position she was unable to improve on in her second and final run of the day.

Her result offers some consolation to the disappointment at not being able to compete in Sochi, Russia, next week.

The slopestyle World Cup circuit was scheduled to compete at the site of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games but the event was cancelled due to unseasonal warm conditions that have affected the snow cover. Other snowsport disciplines in Sochi are proceeding as scheduled.

Segal’s next event is the World Championships in Voss, Norway, where she is looming as a threat to defend the World Championship title she won in Park City, USA, in 2011.

If successful, she will become the first female Australian snowsports athlete to defend a World Championship.

Results – Women’s ski slopestyle World Cup, Silvaplana, Switzerland
1.Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR), 2. Katie Summerhayes (GBR), 3. Anna Segal (AUS), 4. Emma Dahlstrom (SWE), 5. Maiko Tsuji (JPN), 6. Nikki Blackall(CAN)

Segal’s first World Cup podium

13/1/2013

Australia’s ski slopestyle World Champion Anna Segal recorded her first World Cup podium finish in the United States today and immediately started to piece together a plan to take her season to a higher level.

Segal, an Australian Institute of Sport/Victorian Institute of Sport scholarship holder, finished third to the American winner Keri Herman and was just 0.8 of a point behind the second placed Dara Howell from Canada.

And in the men’s draw, NSWIS athlete Russ Henshaw finished second to Great Britain’s James Woods, with Canadian Alex Beaulieu Marchand in third place.

Segal’s bronze medal and Henshaw’s second were part of Australia’s most successful day ever in World Cup competition, consisting of two wins, two second places and a third.

Segal said she was pleased with the result but she has identified several elements to improve before her next World Cup event in Silvaplana, Switzerland, on February 8 and the prestigious X Games on January 27.

“I’m pretty happy to finish third in a field of so many people,” Segal said.

“I still have things to work on so there is a lot more that can come out of this season.”

Segal said that the planned “tweaks” include holding grabs a little longer and aspects of her take-offs, which she hopes will result in her becoming an even more successful athlete.

“In any sport you never reach perfection and there are always things you want to work on,” Segal said.

In the men’s event fellow Australian Boen Ferguson recorded a 31st place, Jesse Houghton 68th, Olly Cain 85th, Samuel Ruttiman 86th and Jordon Houghton 105th.

Women’s slopestyle skiing World Cup standings after round two
1. Keri Herman (USA) 200, 2. Dara Howell (CAN) 140, 3. Eveline Bhend (SUI) 102, 4. Anna Segal (AUS) 60, 5. Dominique Ohaco (CHI) 58, 6. Giorgia Bertoncini (ITA) 54.

Results – Men’s World Cup slopestyle skiing, Copper Mountain, USA
1. James Woods (GBR), 2. Russell Henshaw (AUS), 3. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN), 4. Bobby Brown (USA), 5. Nicholas Goepper (USA), 6. Johan Berg (NOR).

Men’s slopestyle skiing World Cup standings after round two
1. James Woods (USA) 200, 2. Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN) 110, 3. Henrik Harlaut (SWE) 80, 4. Russell Henshaw (AUS) 80, 5. Jonas Hunziker (SUI) 74, 6. Mcrae Williams (USA) 56.

Two Aussies through to Dew Tour Slopestyle final

16/12/2012

World Champion and AIS/VIS slopestyle skier Anna Segal is on track for a strong start to the northern hemisphere season.

Segal, 26, advanced to the final of the prestigious Dew Tour event in Breckenridge, USA, today with a strong second place in the semi- final.

The athlete who appears to be Segal’s main rival in tomorrow’s final is 18-year-old American Emilia Wint, who is competing at her home mountain.

Skiing in solid snow falls, Wint was the highest scorer in the two run 10 women semi-final format. She scored 87.50 points in her first run while Segal managed 82.50.

Fellow Aussie Russ Henshaw also did Australia proud by finishing fourth is his semi, earning a place in the final, headed by Britain’s James Woods, American Nick Goepper and Norwegian Adreas Hatveit.

World champions share snowsports top honour

28/4/2011

Holly, Nate and Chumpy celebrate

Following unprecedented winter sports success during the northern hemisphere season, Ski and Snowboard Australia have named its four new World Champions as joint winners of the Suzuki Snowsports Athlete of the Year.

At a gala function in Melbourne on Thursday, snowboarders Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin (snowboard cross), Holly Crawford (halfpipe), Nate Johnstone (halfpipe) and freestyle skier, Anna Segal (slopestyle), were named as the sport's premier athletes for season 2010/11.

Alex Pullin had a triumphant year, winning the World Cup snowboard cross title as well as the World Championship.

Nate Johnstone arrived in the big time in 2011 after an injury-troubled 2010, emerging as a real star of the halfpipe world, winning the freestyle snowboard overall World Cup title, the halfpipe World Cup and the World Championship.

Holly Crawford, a two-time Olympian, narrowly missed out on the season long World Cup title, finishing the season ranked second, but she was part of the magic in Spain at the Snowboard World Championship in January where Australia won three titles in 36 hours and finished the event on top of the Nations' gold medal tally.

With slopestyle looming as a possible inclusion on the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games program, the world's best slopestyle athletes were out in force at the 2011 FIS Freestyle World Championships.

Segal, who started her skiing career as a moguls skier, produced a superb run to win Australia's fourth World Championship for the year.

Recent past winners of the Snowsports Athlete of the Year award include Olympic gold medalists Torah Bright and Lydia Lassila, who shared the honour last year, two-time Olympic medalist Dale Begg-Smith and aerials great Jacqui Cooper.

With Cooper retired, and Lassila, Bright and Begg-Smith all sitting out the season following the Olympics, the emergence of four new stars was a huge bonus for snowsports.

Ski and Snowboard Australia CEO, Michael Kennedy, said the exceptional season had made it impossible for the judges to separate the top honour.

"Really, each won a world championship, and that was the key goal for everyone during the year," Kennedy said. "It is the highest achievement outside of the Olympic Games that an athlete can strive for in winter sport.

"It is an extraordinary year, and we thought each deserved the honor of being recognised with the sport's top award."

Athlete of the Year: Alex Pullin, Nate Johnstone, Holly Crawford, Anna Segal

Alpine - Scott Kneller
Cross Country - Esther Bottomley
Freestyle - Anna Segal
Snowboard - Alex Pullin, Nate Johnstone, Holly Crawford

Junior Athlete of the Year: Britteny Cox

Coach of the Year - Ben Alexander, Ben Wordsworth

Dev. Coach of the Year - Peter Topalovic

Outstanding Achievement - Russ Henshaw

Rising Star - Greta Small

Another winter sports World Champion for Australia

4/2/2011

Australia is celebrating the addition of another World Championship to a brilliant series of recent successes after slopestyle skier Anna Segal won gold in the United States today.

Competing in the inaugural slopestyle event at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships at the Park City Mountain resort, 24-year-old Segal joined an exclusive club of Australian winter sports World Champions, becoming the fourth new member within three weeks.

Segal's win emphatically consolidates her position as the leading women's slopestyle athlete in the world and caps off a remarkable recovery from a broken leg, suffered less than 12 months ago.

And medal glory was also achieved by 20-year-old fellow slopestyle skier Russ Henshaw, who took out the bronze in the men's event.

Segal joins Alex Pullin (snowboard cross), Holly Crawford and Nathan Johnstone (both snowboard halfpipe) as newly crowned World Champions.

Segal's win, which she adds to her gold in the 2007 US Open and the 2009 X Games, was achieved ahead of Canadian Kaya Turski and American Keri Herman in third.

Segal was simply outstanding today producing the two highest scoring runs, consistently performing the largest and most difficult tricks with the highest degree of difficulty.

Fresh from a silver medal in last weekend's X Games in Aspen, Colorado in the United States, Henshaw, who went into today's final under an injury cloud, was unlucky to miss out on a higher finish.

American duo Alex Schlopy and Sam Carlson finished in first and second with 41.8 and 41.5 points while Henshaw was just behind with 41.2.

Slopestyle is new to the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championship program having developed a cult following throughout the North American and European X Games competition circuits.

A typical slopestyle competition consists of athletes performing on three rail features and three jump features. Athletes are judged on their ability to perform relevant and challenging tricks with the most style.

Current tricks range from switch 1080 (backwards take off with 3 rotations landing backwards) to double cork 1260 (double off axis flip with 3 and a half rotations).

At the post event press conference Segal, who has skied since the age of three, was elated by her win and pleased to have had the opportunity to represent Australia on the world stage.

"After a slightly disappointing sixth at last week's X Games I was determined to put on a show here at Park City," Segal said.

"The slopestyle tour in the US and Europe has been rewarding over the past few years, however, having had a taste of competing for Australia in Moguls as a junior I was really excited to finally have had the opportunity to hear Advance Australia Fair from the podium."

Ski and Snowboard of Australia Chief Executive Officer Mr Michael Kennedy said that the two medal performances will further enhance freestyle skiing's growth.

"Today's results, combined with the three gold medals at the Snowboard World Championships, again highlight the terrific breadth of talent Australia has in Winter Sports," Mr Kennedy said.

"Given Anna's and Russ's results today we are particularly excited by the possibility that slopestyle may become an Olympic sport in Sochi 2014.

"Despite its relatively low profile here in Australia compared to the professional sports, skiing and snowboarding are among Australia's largest participation sports.

"Slopestyle and the snowboard disciplines have a particularly strong connection to a youth audience so it is no surprise that we have so many talented and capable athletes in these new disciplines"

Slopestyle is currently under consideration by the International Olympic Committee for inclusion in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games to be held in Sochi, Russia.