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is id eh al to n. co m O ak vi lle B ea ve r | T hu rs da y, J an ua ry 1 1, 20 18 | S Visit insidehalton.com for more coverage McEachran sets sights on Olympics Slopestyle skier looks to solidify spot on Canadian team HERB GARBUTT hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com It was impossible to ignore how quickly the sport was prog­ ressing. At every contest, heck, every time he checked his Instagram feed, there was someone pull­ ing off a mind-blowing new trick. Evan McEachran couldn't help but feel like he had to do something spectacular to keep pace. "I'd be watching the contest and I'd be thinking that what I was doing wouldn't be enough," the 20-year-old said. "It was just the want to do really well. I would try a run that was too dif­ ficult and it wouldn't even nec­ essarily be needed." He consistently performed well in qualifying, but in the fi­ nal, small but costly mistakes would hurt him. It was a little . "'Annoying' would be the word," McEachran said as he enjoyed his last couple of days off before beginning a hectic competition schedule this month. "I'd be so close each time." McEachran had never skied that way before. He never wor­ ried about what everyone else was doing. When the 17-year-old high school student showed up at the Association of Freeskiing Pro­ fessionals in 2014, he was sim­ ply having fun and trying to do the best he could. He wasn't concerning him­ self with one-upping the likes of Bobby Brown or Jossi Wells. Until he did. The victory proved to be a bit of a blessing and a curse. Suddenly, McEachran was getting entries into all the big­ gest competitions. The follow­ ing year, he was one of eight ski­ ers invited to the inaugural SLVSH Cup in Australia, a head-to-head, anything-you- can-do-I-can-do-better tourna­ ment-style competition featur­ ing the best slopestylers in the world. McEachran won again. No longer the young up-and- comer with loads of potential, McEachran expected podium finishes from himself. But, the more he pushed himself, the more elusive the podium became and the more he became critical of his own skiing. McEachran began working with a mental coach and the re­ sult was getting back to skiing the way he did when he had the most success. "It was just going out and having fun," he said. "I could still put down a run that still flowed and had style and technique." He worked hard prior to the season on his tricks, identify­ ing those he could perform con­ sistently in competition and building his runs around them. He consulted with his broth­ er, Reid, who transitioned from competition to judging. It didn't take long to see the results. In the second World Cup of the season, McEachran broke a two-year drought with a silver medal. "It was huge relief. It was something I had been aiming for for a long time," he said. "But, it was good timing." Good timing because later this month, Freestyle Canada will name the Olympic team. McEachran's medal and his followup fourth-place finish at a Dew Tour event have to give him an inside track. World Cup events over the next two weekends in Aspen, Colo., and Mammoth, Calif., will serve as the final two qual­ ifying events. "I'm pretty excited about this month," McEachran said. "Over the past year, I've been a lot more consistent." Freestyle Canada Evan McEachran will be looking to solidify his spot on the Canadian slopestyle Olympic team at World Cups over the next two weekends. McEachran earned his first World Cup medal, a silver, in November in Austria. mailto:hgarbutt@burlingtonpost.com