Cochrane freestyle mogul skier Ryan Portello raced to a 35th place finish at his first Canadian World Cup circuit competition of the season over the weekend.
The 21-year-old skier who is on the Canadian development team said he was happy with the results and went into the competition focused on putting together a clean run.
“I’m just coming off an injury, so the plan was to put together a clean run and get my confidence back,” he said.
Development team skiers compete in the two Canadian World Cup circuit events held in Canada and then four NorAm competitions before skiing in nationals to finish the year.
While Portello said he is more focused on his skiing than the overall results, his goal is to advance off the development team and begin competing on the full World Cup Circuit and eventually get a shot at Olympic competition.
“I don’t like to worry about results per se,” he said. “I think what’s more important is to work on my skiing and the results will follow.”
To reach his goals, Portello said there are a lot of factors at play – runs are scored on speed, technical ability and two jumps – but added he will be working hard on his jumps.
As for the year-end national competition, Portello said it’s hard to predict how he might finish and is instead remaining focused on the skiing.
The next Canadian World Cup competition for freestyle moguls will be Jan. 26 and 27 in Tremblant, Que.
