She’s been the acknowledged international queen of bumps and jumps for several years.
But now you can add the prefix “all-time” in front of that title.
Yesterday in Are, Sweden, Jenn Heil won her fifth F.I.S. Crystal Globe World Cup moguls skiing title.
Finishing on the podium in three consecutive events following her Olympic silver medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Heil’s third-place finish in dual moguls Saturday left her with 725 points for the season, 159 more than Olympic gold medallist Hannah Kearny.
That makes it mathematically impossible for the American to catch Heil in the remaining event next weekend in Spain.
The fifth Crystal Globe equals the collection of Donna Weinbrecht of the U.S.
Heil called Weinbrecht’s five Globes and her 1992 Albertville Olympic gold, and raised her the Vancouver silver — that followed her own gold at the 2006 Olympics in Turin.
“To tie Donna for the all-time record is definitely nothing I had thought of doing when I started out,” said Heil.
“Donna was still competing when I came onto the scene. She was a wonderful skier. She dominated the event in her time, so to end up equalling her number of Crystal Globes makes it really special.
“It’s absolutely one of the sweetest of them all,” the 26-year-old said in a cellphone interview from the hill.
Heil also won the Crystal Globe every year from 2004-07 before taking 2008 off to rebuild her body.
She finished second overall in her return to the circuit last season.
“It’s definitely pretty exciting after all these years,” said the pride of Spruce Grove.
When you consider that Eric Guay won Canada’s second Crystal Globe in alpine skiing — the first since downhiller Steve Podborski won the World Cup title in 1982 — it speaks to the enormity of Heil’s accomplishment.
“I remember my first years on the World Cup circuit, watching Jean-Luc Brassard winning three and wondering if I’d ever win one,” she said.
Heil didn’t compete at Lake Placid in the final World Cup event prior to the Olympics, making her championship much more one-sided than it even appeared.
She said she still plans to return for at least one more season.
“That’s still what I’m thinking,” she said of going for a sixth Crystal Globe.
“Definitely the world championships in Utah next year,” she added. “I love my sport and I still want to compete.
“But I don’t expect to have Sochi in my sights,” she said of the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Russia.
Heil said she’s completely at ease with not having won the gold in Vancouver, despite all the hype that she’d be the first to win a gold medal for Canada at an Olympics held on home soil.
“To win an Olympic medal at home was so amazing,” she said of her silver.
“When I was presented with the gold at Torino I was just giggling.
“To be presented with the silver at BC Place with 40,000 cheering Canadians ... it was just so exciting to have had that opportunity.
“I owe it all to the team behind me,” she said of first her parents, coach Dom Gauthier and the entire support team that includes a group of Edmonton-based businessmen led by Eskimos president Doug Goss, who put a group together to finance her six years ago.
That turned into the much bigger group — B2ten — that financed almost two dozen of Canada’s Olympic athletes beyond the government’s Own The Podium funding.
“It was so satisfying to see the success of the B2ten athletes.
“To see my little brother Alex Bilodeau step up and win gold, to see the bobsledders win their medals in the two bobsleds B2ten purchased and to watch Joannie Rochette do what she did to win her bronze,” said Heil.
“We were a team of athletes within a team.
“It was really exciting in Vancouver to know I’d been a part of it, the start of it, and to know that the B2ten group will continue on for the next six years.”
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca
