Tuesday, January 29, 2002
Sky's the limit for young Olympian
By RON MANZ -- Calgary Sun
Her motto: 'Do the important things to your fullest.'
Jennifer Heil follows the statement completely. The 18-year-old native of Spruce Grove leaves for Salt Lake City in just over a week's time as one of the youngest athletes on Canada's Olympic Team.
She also goes in with plenty of promise.
In her rookie World Cup season last winter, Heil won silver and bronze medals in mogul competition as a member of Canada's national freestyle ski team. She finished the season ranked fourth overall.
Heil also qualified for her first-ever world championship at Blackcomb, where she finished seventh, and captured Canada's national women's championship in both single and dual moguls for the second straight year.
This winter, Heil picked up where she left off. She captured another bronze in moguls at a World Cup earlier this month.
"My whole career so far has progressed really quickly," said Heil, home for a day recently to celebrate her mother's birthday.
"I never planned to have so much success last winter and things have just continued this year. It's all been pretty exciting."
Going to her first Olympics while still a teenager, also has Heil on Cloud 9.
"I don't think it's ever too early to qualify and go to an Olympics. This will be Jean-Luc Brassard's fourth Games (men's moguls in freestyle) and I'd love to be able to compete there that many times, too."
Heil's father put her on skis when she was two years old. She'd started freestyle acro by age nine. Now she's working on mastering the highest degree of difficulty for jumps on the women's World Cup tour.
"Last year, one of my two jumps was a 360 with an iron cross. I'm working to do the 360-degree spin now but adding two positions with it (a 180-spin facing up hill, with a come-around 180 doing a spread looking down hill).
"If I feel comfortable enough at practice with it, I may try it at the Olympics.
"Several Olympic competitors, like Norway's Kari Traa who's the reigning World Cup women's moguls champ, will likely attempt triples in Salt Lake, so I'll need every trick in my book to have a shot at a podium as well."
Heil is looking at the Olympics as a learning experience this time, though, rather than hoping or expecting to win a medal.
"Last winter in World Cup, I was really an unknown. I could sneak up on the competition and they didn't know what to expect. This season, the mystery's gone and it's been definitely different.
"The experience I gained, though, has helped me focus on the importance of keeping my game plan much the same as last season.
"Most of my competition has five to 10 years experience at a high level compared to me but it's fun to be 18 and know I can still give them a run."
2002 Games Freestyle Skiing Coverage
