Slopestyle snowboarder Robby Balharry’s meteoric rise up the World Cup rankings has just hit another stratosphere.
The 22-year-old Canmorite placed sixth at the FIS snowboard world championships in Quebec City on Saturday (Jan. 19), beating the world’s best on a tough course.
“All of these races are important to me. To get a good result, it relieves pressure going onto the World Cup,” Balharry said.
Slopestyle athletes are judged on their ability to perform tricks off various features during their run through a terrain park. Balharry was the top Canadian qualifier, finishing second overall behind Austria’s Clemens Schattsschneider. High winds and cold temperatures dipping below -20 C hampered the event, but the Canmore native was undeterred.
In the final, Balharry had a solid first run, but fell on his last jump.
On the second run, Balharry played it safe. He pulled out a few old tricks (a cab double nine to front seven double back 10 for those in the know), which vaulted him into the top 10.
“After the first run, I wanted to put something down,” Balharry said. “That was the run I wanted to do first.”
For much of the year, Balharry has split his time between the World Cup and other sponsored tours (he’s yet to compete on the World Snowboard Tour this year), travelling Europe and Asia with several other Canadian snowboarders. While officials work to plan for the 2014 Olympics, Balharry knows he has to stay in the top 30 world rankings.
“This year has been weird. Podiums don’t matter as much. They need all the riders in the top 30. But going into world championships, I knew I wanted to be on the podium. I wanted to land something good,” Balharry said.
Canada is allowed four spots on World Cup and World Championship teams. Performances like the one in Quebec help Balharry build momentum, so he can represent Canada at the 2014 Olympics.
His mindset, is to treat every competition the same way. Snowboarding also has several other sponsored tours Balharry has competed upon.
“I try and take each event the same way and do my best,” Balharry said.
He’s trying to perfect his double jumps and add new flourishes where he can.
His next big focus will be the Olympic test event in Sochi, Russia. He has an idea of what that course is like, but is anxious to see the spot where he could make his Olympic debut.
He and childhood friend Tristan Tafel, who’s currently on the ski cross World Cup team, have a deal to reach the Sochi Olympics together. Balharry will be in Canmore for the next week, visiting sponsors at the Grizzly Paw and Rude Boys before heading out to Whistler for a week of training.
