Skiing isn’t something that we cover on a regular basis, but when it comes to have individuals compete from the Province or Canada in general, it’s worthwhile to cover.
Darcy grew up in the Comox Valley and began his snowboarding career at the young age of 5 as his Father worked at Mount Washington Alpine resort and his older Brother works in Asia also at a ski resort and his Sister also competes.
He moved to Whistler and began training with the Whistler Valley Snowboard Academy and his first or one of his first highlights of his career was when he placed 2nd at the 2012 FIS Junior World Championships in Sierra Nevada Spain.
Now we are hearing that Comox Valley’s 20-year old Darcy Sharpe recently competed in his first World Cup since last January’s LAAX Open event.
He managed to ski away with a Silver medal in the first Slope-style World Cup of the season in Cardrona, New Zealand.
He posted a score of 85.33 that was ahead of Norway’s Marcus Kleveland with a score of 85.58 giving him claim second spot narrowly beating out New Zealand’s Carlos Garcia Knight with a score of 84.58.
Sharpe made the Comox Valley proud landing a clean run on his second and last try that followed a spill on his first run through.
Knowing that you can’t get down and have to focus on what you have worked hard to achieve he managed to impress everyone with his rail tricks.
To the delight of the crowd he launched into a switch backside double 1260 mute, backside double 1080 mute, front-side 1080 off toes mute on the jump line.
It should be noted that this was only one of three Slope-style World Cups prior to PyeongChang 2018, where he looks to make his mark.
He mentioned to the media “It’s a very important event leading up to the Olympics so I really had my mind set on landing my run.”
A few days prior to this event he watched Sister Cassie Sharpe grab Gold in Freestyle ski Halfpipe.
“When she does well I do well, I love that girl! She’s on fire, it only helps me. I’ll never be jealous but I will always be inspired to do as well as her.”
Sticking with Vancouver Island it was interesting to note that Courtenay BC Spencer O’Brien was the top finisher for Canada on the Women’s side.
Rounding out the event somewhat lower was Stoneham, Quebec’s Laurie Blouin who coasted into 9th, while Mikey Ciccarelli of Ancaster, Ontario finished in 7th, with Sébastien Toutant of L’Assomption, Quebec cross to grab 15th.
The Cardrona Winter Games continue with a Halfpipe World Cup scheduled for September 8-9.
The Snowboardcross team will take to the slopes of Argentina’s Cerro Catedral for their first World Cup of the season from September 8-10.
