Olympic Slopestyle and Australia, Plans for the Future

July 15th, 2011

Russ Henshaw at the 2011 FIS Slopestyle World Championships. Image:: Andrew Clark

Slopestyle | Tess Cook

Whether it was expected or not, and according to Australia’s Olympic Winter Institute (OWIA) CEO Geoff Lipshut it was more expected than not, the IOC’s ratification of ski and snowboard slopestyle for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games has ended six months of speculating.

But where one chapter ends, another begins and in Australia at least the story will now be about how skiing and snowboarding’s governing bodies, Australia’s sporting organisations and our athletes, current and future, will together tackle a winter Olympic sport we quite possibly have an excellent chance of making our mark in.

As an Olympic sport, slopestyle and its athletes enter the glorious world of Government funding. “The inclusion of Slopestyle and halfpipe as an Olympic sports puts them on a level playing field with all other traditional Olympic sports in terms of access to grants and scholarships on offer from the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC),” says Ski and Snowboard Australia’s (SSA) newly appointed National Pathway Coordinator Ramone Cooper. “Elite athletes in Halfpipe and Slopestyle are now eligible for the ‘Direct Athlete Support’ program by the ASC and the Adidas medal incentive scheme by the AOC.”

The possibility of money is never something to be sneezed at and as one of our slopestyle stars Anna Segal said “having these sports in the Olympics bring along with it a far larger mainstream audience, which will make sponsoring athletes more lucrative for companies.”

Government and commercial funding – A double bonus for skiers and snowboarders who have been hustling for the cash to keep themselves going as professional athletes. Moreover, government funding for sports is dependent on Australia’s success and possibility of success at Olympic level so slopestyle’s cash potential is significant for a winter sport, with Anna as the inaugural FIS ski slopestyle female World Champion, Russ Henshaw the third place getter in the ski mens and a cohort of talented skiers and boarders waiting in the wings.


Anna Segal at Mt Buller in 2009 showing everyone why she’s one of the best girl freeskiers in the world. Image:: Rory Gardiner

Two years, six months and counting… the road to Sochi

Slopestyle wasn’t born on Tuesday 5 July 2011, certainly not in Australia. Russ, Anna and others have been representing on the international stage for years, achieving incredible success with their talent, tenacity and private support. The OWIA and SSA recognise the success of the athletes’ existing training and for Sochi are more focused on supplanting what’s already working.

“Whether a Sport Institute style programme is of interest of the right fit for the current group of high performance athletes is something we all still need to answer,” said Lipshut. “Or is an individual athlete approach by the National Federation the most appropriate? With a number of the high performance athletes already very successful both in competition and through their own sponsorship efforts, it makes obvious sense not to interfere with what these athletes are already doing.”

“The advice we are getting from some athletes is that they want to continue with their individual training programmes but would like to seek assistance in the form of strength and conditioning, acrobatics, physiotherapy, nutrition, etc,” Cooper says. “For our elite athletes, we are in a position to facilitate individual scholarships with our institute program providers to offer this kind of assistance to their training.”

“As the athletes start competing over the next 12 months we will see who has the talent to be a top 10 outcome in Sochi,” adds Ben Wordsworth, the OWIA’s head snowboarding coach. “From there a likely individual scholarship scheme may be put in place for the lead up to the Games.”

Beyond Sochi… world domination?

“We really see slopestyle as being a perfect fit for Australian athletes,” Andrew Pattison from Team Buller Riders – Australia’s premiere grass roots and development freestyle ski training programme has said. “Even with little snow you can train rails and it’s not hard for resorts to get a decent jump built. With the water jump in the Yarra Ranges, Victoria, and the new facility being built in Brisbane, athletes will be able to work year round on their air skills.

“There is also a great base of kids training in terrain parks across Australia, so there are plenty of potential athletes out there.”

The SSA is looking to nurture this potential through its SSA Futures programme, which aims to transition athletes from grassroots to development and elite level by creating pathways, programmes and events that will hopefully cultivate the breadth and depth Australia needs to be a significant player in international Slopestyle, says Cooper.

Here the point may be raised again; Slopestyle didn’t come into being last Tuesday, international competition is enormous and the significant players are already well established. However, support for slopestyle aspirants in Australia has previously been somewhat less than forthcoming – it’s a difficult path to the top – with government funding and broader recognition the opportunities for more talented kids to pursue a sport that may previously have been logistically and financially difficult will doubtless grow, and with that Australia’s presence in international slopestyle.

“We plan to get more professional and expand on these areas of training by replicating the work already done in other established sports with work ethic, intensity and professionalism, but obviously tailoring some components to slopestyle.” Says Pattison of TBR’s plans to nurture Australia’s developing slopestyle stars.

A Positive Result

In Australia, slopestyle’s ratification as an Olympic sport means greater access to funding and government support for athletes and training programmes, greater public awareness and the very real possibility of Olympic medals and more World Titles, which in themselves will inspire a new round of elite slopestyle stars. “I believe the inclusion of slopestyle will only bring more Olympic and World Championship medals to our country over the coming years,” says Wordsworth.