Making his Para Snowboard World Cup debut in Colere, Italy, Campbell River resident Tyler Turner won gold in the SBX Lower Limb 1 category earlier this month.
“It’s a bit surreal! It was a last-minute decision to come here, and Tyler’s first World Cup event and he just won!” said Gregory Picard, National Para Team coach.
After a rollercoaster debut in the double-header event, the rookie qualified first, but after a mistake in the semi-finals, finished 7th on the first race; setting up a second race for redemption. Tyler and icard came up with a new game plan to try and avoid the mistakes that plagued him on day one with the goal in mind to make it to the big final.
“The spring snow conditions were very difficult to deal with and Tyler didn’t have as much energy this morning, so he did as few runs as possible,” said Picard.
Knowing the course from the previous day, Turner went straight to the one-run qualification, where he was able to take 3rd spot going into the brackets. The rest of the race was a lot of pressure management and race strategy, where Turner performed well and accomplished his goal making it in the Top 4.
Once he reached that, the pressure was off and it was all fun for him which paid off as he won the big final in front of Noah Elliot (USA) second and Chris Vos (NED) third.
“I was laughing in the start gate trying to comprehend what was actually happening. Because of that carefree attitude I was able to shake off the jitters and just go have fun. I honestly didn’t know what to do when I crossed the finish line,” Turner said.
Because of COVID-19 this was the only World Cup event of the 2021 season for the Para National Team.