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Courtney’s Spencer O’Brien wins slopestyle gold medal

Now is the time for top athletes of snow and ice to begin tapering their form for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February.

Now is the time for top athletes of snow and ice to begin tapering their form for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, in February.

Spencer O’Brien of Courtenay appears to be doing just that as the slopestyle star won women’s gold Saturday at the Dew Tour event in Breckenridge, Colorado.

A bit of improvisation didn’t hurt the Islander, a five-time X Games medallist, who made her Olympic debut at Sochi in 2014.

“I’m pretty speechless,” O’Brien said in a statement after shunting Jamie Anderson of the U.S. to the silver medal and Enni Rukajarvi of Finland to the bronze. “I really went out there today to do my run. I didn’t actually get to do the run I wanted, but I’m just really happy to have put down a good run, and to have stood on top of that podium again.”

Max Parrot of Bromont, Que., won the men’s gold with Darcy Sharpe of Comox sixth, Mark McMorris of Regina eighth and Tyler Nicholson of North Bay, Ont., 10th.

“We’ve got a really strong team,” Parrot said.

This was the final slopestyle event that will count toward Olympic qualifying points. The Canadian freestyle ski team to Pyeongchang 2018 will be named early next month.

Darcy Sharpe won silver in the first men’s slopestyle World Cup event of the season in September at Cardrona, New Zealand. His sister Cassie Sharpe, also of Comox, won the first World Cup women’s ski freestyle halfpipe of the season in Cadrono this fall.

The Sharpes and O’Brien are among a group of Island athletes who grew up skiing and snowboarding on Mount Washington and are looking to Pyeongchang. That emerging group includes ski freestyler Teale Harle of Campbell River, who recorded his first career World Cup victory in March at Silvaplana, Switzerland. Others include Canadian national-team members Carle Brenneman and Mathieu Leduc, both from the Comox Valley, in snowboard-cross and ski-cross, respectively.

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com