Freeski: Crossover Competitors do Double Duty at Dew

With the addition of freeski slopestyle and halfpipe to the Olympics, the Dew Tour, and the subsequent four qualifying events, have become conduits for creating crossbred athletes. The challenges of doing just that for any competitor – as the amount of progression pushing athletes currently competing makes for a pool that is deeper than the Grand Canyon – is the additional balance of training for both and actively competing in grueling back-to-back events.

The United States features a few of the more notable double dippers, Devin Logan and Gus Kenworthy, along with Jamie Crane-Mauzy.

Devin Logan is no stranger with pulling double duty. She’s been skiing both halfpipe and slopestyle since she was 13.

Devin Logan takes her power to the pipe

“It’s nothing foreign for me,” says Logan. “It’s just two different events, but I feel one helps me out with the other. I’ve been doing it so far, so why not go for both.”

Like her sport’s culture, Logan looks at the challenges of competing in two events with an open and positive mind.

“I have to split up my time to train to be equally good in both, so it’s a little draining mentally and physically, but I get the job done somehow and I have a good support team behind me to help me prepare and get ready: Ski techs, coaches, agents, publicists and family.”

Event schedules often give competitors very little time to prepare for their other event. Just to qualify for the final in both events at the Dew Tour, Logan, who actually has a slight preference toward slopestyle, had a two-hour window between each run.

Despite the tight schedules, training for two events and even coaches fighting for her attention, Logan may actually have an advantage over all of her one-event competitors. After tearing her ACL in the fall of 2012, Logan kept busy by becoming a certified freeskiing judge.

“I did judging myself, so it gives me an edge because I know what the judges are saying in the back of my head.”

Gus Kenworthy is considered the most well-rounded freeskier on the U.S. team, so it only makes sense he rounds out his competition slate with multiple events. Kenworthy, like Logan, has “always done both” – halfpipe and slopestyle – when he was younger.

Gus Kenworthy goes bigger than most

The Breckenridge resident, who, based on his podium finishes has mastered slope and pipe, even added a third event, big air. Kenworthy showed he had the true grit when he competed in the inaugural Big Air competition at the 2012 Dew Tour, placing second. Big air, says Kenworthy, is becoming his favorite of the three, now making him a triple threat on the mountain.

Logan and Kenworthy have formed a special bond during their time training for the pipe and slope. They talk to each other about their training plans and how many hours they’ll spend on the course and the pipe. They feel the collaboration helps one another.

Jamie Crane-Mauzy, who’s currently the number one ranked freeskier on the AFP Tour has balanced both slopestyle and halfpipe, and has even found time to sprinkle in some aerials and moguls for good measure. This week, the 21-year-old turned the Dew Tour into a sibling rivalry when the two-sport sensation took on her sister, Jeanee, in the superpipe.

As a two-sport freeskier, the Dew Tour is the first stop along the way for athletes to compete in 10 events. The world of freeskiing is blessed with competitors who want to ride and show their true love and passion for their sport. Pulling double duty this weekend in Breckenridge will be taxing for the riders, but thrilling for the fans.

Read up on what’s happening on the snowboard side in Crossover Competitors do Double Duty at Dew: Snowboard.