Bowman qualifies for Olympics

By USSA

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – Maddie Bowman (South Lake Tahoe) clinched a nomination to the inaugural U.S. Freeskiing Olympic team Sunday with a win in the halfpipe final at the Visa U.S. Freeskiing Grand Prix presented by North Face at Breckenridge.

Adverse weather at the venue forced FIS officials to reschedule the finals twice, and snow fell on the halfpipe while Bowman, Ayana Onozuka of Japan and Aussie Amy Sheehan laid down the top runs of the day.

Brita Sigourney (Carmel) and Annalisa Drew (Andover, Mass.) finished just shy of the podium in fourth and fifth, putting Bowman in an unbeatable position in the qualification standings.

Sunday’s final also marked the end of the FIS World Cup tour for halfpipe skiing, and Devin Logan (West Dover, Vt.) was named the FIS World Cup halfpipe champion and awarded the crystal globe for her winning the most FIS halfpipe points throughout the tour.

Bowman earned the silver in the FIS World Cup overall halfpipe standings with Amy Sheehan taking bronze.

Bowman’s winning run: Straight-air Japan, unnatural (rightside) 900, straight-air mute, rightside 540, leftside 540 mute, rightside 720 tail and switch 360 mute.

“I’ve never been in this position. It’s our first Olympics, but it’s pretty exciting. I’ve just been trying to take each competition day by day, not looking at the big ‘O,’ but now that I know I get to compete there so I’m pretty excited,” Bowman said.