Blunck opens Olympic qualifying with top result of career

“Knowing I have a second place is perfect”

It’s go time for athletes looking to land a spot on the U.S. Olympic ski team headed to Sochi. And after the first of four Olympic halfpipe qualifying events, Aaron Blunck is sitting pretty good, placing second at the Dew Tour event in Breckenridge last weekend.
The Dew Tour event was the first one and with three spots up for grabs, the pressure is on and the athlete list was off the charts. Blunck was coming off a fifth-place finish a week earlier at a lower level event and despite the seemingly disappointing finish, he was nothing if not motivated.

“I wanted to use that as fire going into the next comp,” says Blunck.
Blunck had a rough start to his workouts last week leading up to the big event but by Wednesday, he was as motivated as he’s ever been and primed for a breakout performance.
“All of a sudden I was feeling really good and told my coaches, I want to win this comp,” explains Blunck.
His practice runs in the halfpipe at Breckenridge were going well until a mishap caused a fairly big crash. After tending to his dinged-up body, Blunck decided it was time to ease back.
“I had my run dialed and was ready, so I decided just to relax,” says Blunck.
His qualifier runs went as well as he ever could have hoped, scoring an 86 on his first run and then ramping it up to score even higher and finish qualifiers in third place overall out of 16 skiers. That meant he would be the third to last skier to drop into the pipe in finals, a spot he really likes.
“Some people don’t really like all of the waiting but I like watching the other skiers go and use that to get fired up,” explains Blunck.
Focused for finals, Blunck had four quality practices dialing in his finals run. His rhythm and mental focus got a bit rattled as two of his competitors, and friends, crashed in the halfpipe and had to drop out of the competition.
“I had to build my confidence back up,” says Blunck.
He was hit with another blow as he under-rotated on one move during his first finals run and lost a ski.
“I was like, this cannot be happening,” says Blunck. “It was the most stressed I’ve ever been.”
Blunck had to step into his back-up pair of skis for his last run of the competition and his nerves were peaking.
“I was freaking out up top,” admits Blunck. “I have never been so nervous in my life. I was twitching.”
After a few final words from his coaches, Blunck reeled it in and dropped into the halfpipe for his last run.
“They just said, do what you do best,” says Blunck. “I kind of went in and along for the ride.”
Blunck stomped his run and scored an 89, moving him into second place with one skier left to go.
“When I saw they scored it an 89 I was so unbelievably stoked,” says Blunck.
Once that final skier suffered a hiccup on the last run, Blunck knew second place was his and he was mauled by his friends and fellow competitors.
One down and three more to go for a shot at the U.S. Olympic team and right now Blunck is sitting in a very good spot. He will head to Copper this weekend for the second qualifying event, the Copper Grand Prix.
Following Copper, halfpipe skiers take a break from competition for Christmas and then head to the third qualifying event at Northstar in California January 6-12. The qualifying series wraps up with the Park City Grand Prix January 14-19. The final U.S. team rosters will then be announced on January 19.
“It’s a huge confidence booster,” says Blunck. “Knowing I have a second-place finish is perfect. I’m feeling super-good right now.”