Gerrits Soars to Another Podium
Twenty one year old Travis Gerrits stepped up to the challenge of being the only Canadian to advance past the qualification rounds of the Aerials World Cup in Deer Valley, Utah and did not disappoint. The Milton, ON native soared to a 115.83 to win silver and claim the second podium of his career.
“I’m on top of the world,” said a beaming Gerrits. “There’s not much I could have done better today and to get second place with what I did was awesome.”
A new Olympic format for the competition used by organizers meant for a difficult night for athletes. To land on the podium competitors had to perform four jumps in total (one qualification jump, then a round of 12, a round of eight and a super final round of four). Jumpers were also not be allowed to use the same tricks in any of the three final rounds.
“Although we use this format in our summer water ramp competitions, on snow it was a completely different story,” said Gerrits. “I’m actually super tired. We’ve been standing around for about five hours. You just use so much energy to keep activation levels where they’re supposed to be so that you’ll be ready to jump when you have to.”
The result bodes well for Gerrits as this event is one of five where landing on the podium could help him win early nomination to the 2014 Olympic Team.
