Snow Sports: Slopestyle event features top females
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Kristi Leskinen, a pioneer in women's free-skiing, returns to Seven Springs this weekend for her second annual invitational -- an "all-girls" slopestyle event -- featuring some of the top female skiers in the country.
"We have an amazing group of athletes coming and Seven Springs is pulling out all the stops to make this event a huge success," the Uniontown native said.
Leskinen, 29, the first female freeskier to compete in the US Open in Vail, Colo., in 1999, took second place in slopestyle last year in Aspen, Colo.
Seven Springs spokeswoman Anna Weltz said the invitational "will be an opportunity for the girls to push themselves, progress the sport and raise awareness and interest in the sport among young girls and women."
Weltz said the course has been created specifically for the purpose of "showcasing the girls' abilities and the sport. The event will be a rider-judged jam format [to] encourage the girls to go for their biggest tricks."
The first rounds of today's competition will be at 12:45 and 1:30 p.m. The finals will be at 2:30 p.m. The homecoming crowns will be awarded at 4:30 p.m. on the Foggy Goggle deck.
There will be a free amateur rail jam from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday in the Foggy Goggle Bowl adjacent to the popular apres snowsports bar.
For more information on the invitational and a complete schedule of events, go to www.7springs.com or call 1-800-452-2223.
More than 300 athletes and 135 coaches will gather Sunday for the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Special Olympics Pennsylvania Winter Games in the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown.
The games, which continue through Tuesday, feature competition in downhill skiing at Hidden Valley, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing at Blue Knob, figure skating at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena and speed skating at Planet Ice in Richland.
First Published February 20, 2010 9:03 pm
