Campbell RiverB次元官网网址檚 Teal Harle will be going back to the Olympics again this year for the big air and slopestyle freestyle skiing events.
The team lineup was announced on Jan. 24. However, for a while Harle was unsure if heB次元官网网址檇 be able to make the team. After a promising start to his season with a 2nd place in an Olympic qualifier event, Harle had a few rough competitions, landing him in the fourth spot for the Canadian Team.
HarleB次元官网网址檚 journey to the games started in Chur, Switzerland, where he placed second in the Big Air event. However, from there things did not go as planned.
B次元官网网址淓very contest I just kept crashing and crashing and crashing. I would qualify into the finals fairly high, then I would crash on all of my runs and get last in the finals. I didnB次元官网网址檛 get any secondary results to back up that second place,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚n the second-last qualifiying event in Mammoth (California), my teammate Mark Hendrickson bumped me out of fourth place because he had enough results. He moved into the fourth spot. Then I had one more opportunity in France to take it back. I basically needed to beat him in the contest and I could steal the spot back. I actually managed to land some runs. The last minute turn around was nice.B次元官网网址�
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Harle placed fifth in the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. During those games, he was also able to enjoy the festival atmosphere. However, heB次元官网网址檚 expecting things to be a bit different this time.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 nice that I already got the real Olympic experience,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚 think this is going to be a lot less festive. For example in Korea I was able to go to the opening ceremonies, go watch events, check stuff out and hang out with other athletes. All that stuff is not going to be allowed. WeB次元官网网址檒l see how much socializing we can do. ItB次元官网网址檚 bubbled so hard. I havenB次元官网网址檛 looked too much into it.B次元官网网址�
Despite his iffy season leading up to the Olympics, Harle did have a few confidence boosters recently. On Saturday, he competed in the Big Air event at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado. In what he called B次元官网网址減robably the highest level big air event ever to happen,B次元官网网址� Harle placed a very respectable third.
B次元官网网址淭he amount of rotations and landed tricks was just out of this world. It felt pretty cool to be a part of that and to also stand on the podium during that. That was absolutely insane,B次元官网网址� he said.
The terrain for that event is similar to what heB次元官网网址檚 expecting in Beijing.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 nice to get on a big jump and do some contest runs and stuff and figure out what you can and canB次元官网网址檛 do, and what other people can and canB次元官网网址檛 do,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淚t allows me to kind of plan out my strategy a bit more. Maybe I can learn some new tricks. ThatB次元官网网址檒l be a last minute cram for the test kind of thing. WeB次元官网网址檒l see.B次元官网网址�
The team flies out to Beijing on Jan. 29 and Harle is excited about his chances. Based on last weekendB次元官网网址檚 showing it should be a great competition to watch.
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