Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
By Marty Basch
Maine’s Simon Dumont has a lot going for him, but there's one thing he doesn't have.
An Olympic medal.
The reality is that right now he can't even compete for one. It's doesn't matter that he has skied in the X Games since 2002 and garnered an incredible collection of medals.
It doesn't matter he once leapt more than 35 feet out of a 38-foot quarter pipe at Sunday River in 2008 to claim the world record.
But what Dumont, and many other winter action sports heroes, has going for him is that the International Ski Federation, the governing body of the Olympics, is considering three new action sports for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia: snowboard slopestyle, ski slopestyle and ski halfpipe.
That last one makes Dumont's day.
"I'm really focusing on halfpipe skiing and winning an Olympic medal," said Maine's lord of the superpipe .
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Until a decision is announced, Dumont continues to fly high above the icy walls of the halfpipe. Ski halfpipe was added to the Grand Prix circuit for the first time this season and the 24-four-old finished in third place last month at Copper Mountain, Colo. That provided him with a berth on the 2011 World Championship team for ski halfpipe that competes at Deer Valley, Utah in February.
Dumont is no stranger to success. He makes action ski movies. He's won a total of eight X games medals. Six were in superpipe (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze) and two in big air (gold and bronze).
Still, a chance at the Olympics is making him better his game. The Olympics have the biggest audience, the most prestige.
"I'll do whatever it takes," he said.
The young freeskiing veteran sees the whole action sports scene progressing. Kids 12, 13 and 14 are, he says, doing crazy things while skateboarding, snowboarding and skiing.
"You don't need to be super old, you just have to be dedicated and have a lot of fun. The field is getting deeper by the minute," he said.
Though it's still several weeks away, Dumont will be back in Maine for the pro/amateur third annual Dumont Cup at Sunday River March 25-26 on Sunday Punch and Rocking Chair. The slopestyle event last year attracted top freeskiers like Jossi Wells, TJ Schiller and Tom Wallisch.
"I plan to keep making the course better," he said. "I'll try to make it the best I can, comparable to any course out there. I'd like to have halfpipe, big and it be the most prestigious events in freeskiing."
But that's in March.
For now, Dumont is preparing for a possible visit to Russia three years from now.
USSA photo