Photo courtesy of Shannon Bahrke

Most people don’t know that not only are we competing amongst ourselves (women mogul skiers) for our spot to the Olympics but we have to compete against men’s mogul skiers, men’s and women’s aerialists, and men’s and women’s skier cross skiers. We are all branched under the Freestyle Team and at the Olympics the Freestyle Team gets 18 total spots, with a maximum of 4 spots per sex per discipline. For the total of 18 men and women that will compete in the Olympics in the sport of Freestyle, I would say there were a total of 45, give or take, who were vying for those spots.

The team has a selection criteria process, and it started at the first World Cup this year in Finland and went all the way to our most recent World Cup held in Lake Placid. The 1st tier in the selection criteria is the winner of our Olympic Qualifying event held at Steamboat Springs, CO. The 2nd tier is a win at a World Cup, the 3rd tier is a top 3 finish at a World Cup, the 4th tier is two top 5 finishes, 5th tier is one top 5 finish, and the 6th tier is three top 10 finishes. To make it on the team we have to beat out everyone else in every freestyle discipline with our best finishes. It sounds complicated, and it is, but that is the way they do it.

And let me tell you, this was the most unbelievably hard team to make for our women’s mogul team. All four of us that qualified (Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie, Michelle Roark, and myself) all have a podium (that means we finished in one of the top three spots), and three of us have two or more. That is absolutely crazy!!! Currently, Heather McPhie is ranked 2nd in the world, Hannah Kearny is 3rd in the world, and I am 4th in the world. But the thing that makes it so tough is the girls that just missed the team, like Shelly Robertson and Emiko Torito have two top 5 finishes, Emiko with a 4th! So needless to say, that my hair turned gray week after week of trying to make this Olympic team.

I started the season off slow with 8th and 17th place finishes in Finland. After Christmas we headed up to Calgary and it started to get better with a 6th and 7th place finish. But it all came together in Deer Valley when I finally made it on to the podium in 3rd. The next night I came in 5th and the points between 5th and 2nd place was .06. That is completely insane!!!!! That is less than 1/10 of 1 point. Our last and final World Cup in Lake Placid, NY, I had one of my best runs in competition history and solidified my spot on the Olympic team with a 2nd place finish. But, remember how I told you our team was good? The 4 of us going to the Olympics finished that World Cup event 1, 2, 3, and 4: we swept the podium and it was just awesome!!!

I would say the most competitive U.S. freestyle team at the moment is the women's mogul team. Our men's mogul team is looking good but not quite as strong as they have been in the past. But saying that, Bryon Wilson has two 2nd place finishes and Nate Roberts also has a 3rd place finish and Pat Deneen was the 2009 World Champion. Our men's aerial team has been dominant for the past decade. We have had some of the best aerialists in the world and this team is no exception. Jeret "Speedy" Peterson throws the hardest trick in the world, known as the hurricane. Also on that team is last year's World Champion, Ryan St. Onge. There are two younger athletes that made the team as well and have jumped great this season.

As for the women aerialists, they have a solid team and if they put together their two best jumps I think they could take home a medal. As for skier cross, the two men that made it to the Olympics have been on the podium numerous times and they know what they need to do to win. We didn't have any women qualify for the Olympics in women's skier cross. All in all, we've got a really strong team with a bunch of athletes who have given their heart and soul to make it to Vancouver.

So now as I am sitting here named to the team, typing this out, my heart is racing just thinking about it!! This qualifying year has literally taken years off of my life, but I would absolutely do it all over again!! So Vancouver here we come, we came to kick a little ass!!

All of the teams are as follows:

Women's moguls

Hannah Kearny, Heather McPhie, Michelle Roark, and myself

Men's moguls

Patrick Deneen, Nate Roberts, Bryon Wilson, and Michael Morse

Women's aerials

Emily Cook, Jana Lindsey, Lacy Schnoor, and Ashley Caldwell

Men's aerials

Jeret Peterson, Ryan St. Onge, Dylan Ferguson, and Matt Depeters

Women's skier cross

nobody

Men's skier cross

Daron Rahlves and Casey Puckett

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