Roxy Team success at the World Championships

The Roxy snow team would like to wish Paulina Ligocka a massif congratulations on her third place in the half pipe at the FIS World Championships in Sungwoo, Korea on the 24th of Jan. The riding in the ladies half pipe was of a very high standard, certainly the highest I have seen at a FIS World Championships, and with all the riders gearing up for the Olympics the competition was tough. There were a few top riders missing, namely Torah Bright, Kjersti Buaas, Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler and Hannah Teter who were all at the X-Games but apart from them the field was as strong as it could have been. First spot went to the impressive Chinese new comer Jiyu Liu whose smooth high airs and perfectly executed backside 540 to frontside 720 to cab 3 just put her in front of Australian Holly Crawford. Holly had been riding with her distinctive aggressive style all week and threw down a massif frontside 900 in the second run to try and better her second place. She just couldn't hold the landing and took second on the score of her first run. Paulina rode consistently throughout the whole competition through the qualifiers, semis and in the finals to end in a well deserved third spot with a smooth and stylish front5, front7, cab3 and McTwist in her run.

Paulina with the Polish Flag in the finish area after coming third

Other Roxy team riders at the comp also put down great performances in Korea, notably New Zealander Kendal Brown who had arguably the best backside 540 in the competition and rode in to 11th position. Lisa Wiik continued to push her riding with a totally new competition run and although she couldn't quite get a clean run, coming in 19th place, the step forward in her riding is bound to stand her in good stead and added to her triumph at the BEO when she heads to Canada fro the Canadian Open next week she will be in a strong position for good results in the pipe and slopestyle events. Lesley McKenna, in Korea as rider/coach kept the spirit of progression alive riding high and throwing down big backside 540 and frontside 720. Little sketches kept her from translating the riding into points, as with fellow Roxy rider Mirabelle Thovex, but people certainly noticed the good spirit in the Roxy camp and how it is helping the girls to push their limits. Mirabelle, also part of a very impressive young French team, will now head to Italy for the next World Cup event where she hopes to get a good clean run down and secure her place for France for next season's Olympic Games.

While we were in Korea we also got great news from the X-Games in the US that Torah Bright and Sarah Burke had won the snowboard and ski half pipes respectively, with Kjersti coming 4th in the slopestyle and 7th in the pipe. Go on girls!!!!! 

After the event was all good and finished the girls headed to Seoul to take in a bit of Korean City culture. The city proved full of surprises with talent contests literally on every street corner amongst the flashing neon lights and major hustle and bustle.

Lisa at one of the many talent contests in the streets of Seoul