Matt Morison takes silver in Russia

[skategoat]

Another great result for young Matt. I wish I could buy stock in this kid.

http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=SB&raceid=6681

Michael Lambert, only 20 years old, from Toronto also took 5th in the same race. The future looks bright for Canadian Snowboarding.

Thanks to Matt and Michael, snowboarding is getting some long overdue press coverage:

From the Toronto Sun:

February 9, 2007

Oshawa may be an unlikely breeding ground for a budding World Cup star, but snowboarder Matt Morison is quickly making believers

By BILL LANKHOF

Paul Morison will have his feet firmly planted on the ground this weekend, competing in the Ontario Masters snowboard championships at Beaver Valley.

But his mind, and his heart, will be thousands of kilometres away on a mountainside in Shukolovo, Russia, with his son.

"It's not the same without Matt along," he said.

It's lonely. But it's a good lonely. Paul, a carpenter at General Motors in Oshawa, and his wife, Cathy, are the parents of a budding star on the Canadian Alpine snowboard team.

Matt, 19, rocked the snowboard fraternity two weeks ago, slicing through the parallel slalom course at Nendaz, Switzerland, to win a World Cup bronze medal. In his final race, he took down veteran Siegfried Grabner.

Why was it so stunning?

ONLY A JUNIOR

Morison is only a junior and is eligible later this year for the junior world championships. Until this year, he'd never competed outside the Nor-Am circuit, in which he'd twice had third-place finishes. There was a fifth at last year's world juniors and the Canadian snowboard deep-thinkers had him in their 2010 Olympic plans.

But nobody expected the type of breakthrough he's had this year, least of all Matt or his pops.

"Today is the biggest day in my life," Matt said after his win. "Awesome. I didn't expect this at all."

Today, he goes for the encore in Shukolovo, the heir anointed to veteran Olympian Jasey Jay Anderson.

"It's incredible. To jump to the World Cup coming from the Oshawa Ski Club is huge," Paul said.

So huge that it's never before happened. The only world-class skier to call Oshawa his home hill was back in the 1970s when Doug Woodcock competed on a North American pro circuit.

"Matt grew up on a 300-foot vertical hill," Paul pointed out. "He came from nothing."

The beginnings might have been humble, but there was always something special about the kid.

"When I first took him to the hill, even when he was 7 or 8, he had a racy stance."

By the time he was 11, Matt was winning races. Growing up on a 50-acre property near Burketon in a house his father built, Matt spent his days riding dirt bikes and horses and he and his brother, Chance, would make the 30-minute drive to the local hill in their old rusty truck.

"Last year, he was just finishing high school and doing the Nor-Am circuit," Paul said. "To go from there to the World Cup is quite a step. We thought it would be better to go back to Nor-Am this year. We didn't want him to go (on to the World Cup) circuit and feel overwhelmed."

But coaches with the national team believed he was ready, and Matt wanted to go. So that's how Paul lost his snowboarding partner this weekend and Canada gained a World Cup medallist in Switzerland. Not that there wasn't some familial second-guessing.

The winter started out about the way Paul worried it might. Matt finished 35th. Then 40th. Then he failed to finish a race. Considering he was competing against the 60 best racers in the world, that still isn't bad. But a kid's psyche, not to mention those of mom and dad, can be tender things.

"It was exactly the kind of thing I didn't want him to find and get discouraged about," Paul said.

No worries. Matt found his legs and a World Cup podium. National team coach Mark Fawcett says he is far ahead of schedule and, Paul notes that "he has qualified (for the final 16 runoff) in every race since then, against snowboarders who have grown up on some of the biggest mountains in the world."

A fluke? Not in this sport. Of the 60 racers who start each event, only the 16 with the best time after two runs advance. Then the 16th faces No. 1; the 15th fastest goes against No. 2. It takes 10 runs to win the podium. That takes more than luck.

So, today in Shukolovo, Matt will stare down the parallel slalom course again. Instead of being greeted by the silence of the Ganaraska Forest of his childhood, he will gaze into a sea of faces and a swirling maze of colour and sound that accompanies every alpine event in Europe.

"He says when you stand at the top of the hill, it's deafening," Paul said. "He says if you make the final, it's like you're a rock star. He got to the bottom of the hill and everybody's grabbing you, asking for autographs, the kids want you to sign their jackets. All he wants to do is get back up the hill for the next run but he says sometimes you can't get through all the people."

Maybe he had better get used to it.

[philfell]

One thing they didn't mention that is really impressive is that Lambert won the qualifiers.

Congrats to US riders Michelle and Justin, both finishing 6th. Justin was taken out by Morison in the round of 8.

[ARCrider]

One thing they didn't mention that is really impressive is that Lambert won the qualifiers.

Congrats to US riders Michelle and Justin, both finishing 6th. Justin was taken out by Morison in the round of 8.

The newspaper article was probably set in motion because of Matt's 3rd place finish two weeks ago in Switzerland. Article was printed yesterday morning before the results from Russia were known. Should be some follow up now and I do hope there is some mention of Mike and Matt finishing 1st and 3rd in qualifying. Pretty cool to be with Matt's dad Paul yesterday when he got the news.

[skategoat]

Here's the Toronto Sun article after the Shukolovo result.

Parallel pair precious

Ontario snowboarders second, fifth at World Cup event

By BILL LANKHOF, SUN MEDIA

"I'm so-o-o-o bummed that I'm not there." So said Mark Fawcett, head alpine coach of Canada's national snowboard team yesterday from his home in British Columbia.

Fawcett was speaking of Shukolovo, Russia, where Matt Morison and Toronto's Michael Lambert continued an impressive climb onto the World Cup stage. Fawcett might have taken the week off. Fortunately his team didn't.

With their coach at home preparing for the start next week of the Asian leg of the World Cup, Morison won a silver in the World Cup parallel slalom, behind only Marc Iselin of Switzerland. It's the second time in less than three weeks that the 19-year-old Morison, from the tiny village of Burketon, outside Oshawa, has won a podium spot. He won bronze in Switzerland.

Lambert, 20, of Toronto, had the fastest qualifying time of the day before finishing fifth, which is his career best. "We knew they could attain these results; just not this soon," Fawcett said. "It's going to change our training plans ... we're really happy about this. You look at an athlete from three aspects: Technically, physically and mentally -- these two guys are the full package. They're outstanding in all three categories. The one thing they don't have is experience. That's why we're kind of shocked they're so far ahead of schedule."

Morison is so young many expected he still would be on the Nor-Am circuit instead of winning at the World Cup level. "He's just been on fire," Fawcett said after yesterday's race pushed Morison into seventh place in the overall World Cup parallel slalom standings. Points leader Simon Schoch, of Switzerland, was ninth in yesterday's event.

EXPECTATIONS

Lambert has had a more difficult season. It didn't start that way. He had won the Austrian national championships last year, there was a 17th place at a World Cup, and he won the 2006 world juniors. Suffice to say, he came with expectations.

"In November during our team time trials it was the Lambert show, he'd win 75% of them ... with Matt right on his heels," Fawcett said. But, at the end of the month, at Copper Mt. in a race it seemed he would win, Lambert blew out his shoulder. He couldn't compete again until January.

"This will really help his comeback. He didn't have a good world championships and didn't do much in a couple of (January) World Cups," Fawcett said, "but, at the last World Cup in Italy he got 21st and he told me then: 'All right. I'm not really happy with the number but I really like the way I'm riding again. I'm getting my confidence back.' It snowballed from there to this week where he qualified first. Fifth is a good result for him."

In the women's event, Caroline Calve, of Aylmer, Que., was the top Canadian, finishing 10th behind winner Heidi Neururer, of Austria.

[philfell]

"Bummer that they only focused on Jasey. Morison, Lambert, and Farrell are the true future on the CSF alpine team."

I wrote this two weeks ago after the World Champs. The future came a little quicker than I thought though.