SAUZE D'OULX, Italy -- The freestyle skiing venue at these Winter Games is located at a small town, nestled in the Italian Alps, called Jovonceaux.
Calgary product Warren Shouldice has another name for it.
"Stress City," Shouldice said after yesterday's qualifying jumps. "There's a lot of nerves, because you're kind of expected to make finals. It's tough, because it's not as easy as it looks.
Unlike two of the highly ranked Canadians, the 22-year-old made it look easy, taking a third-place ranking into Thursday's finals.
Although they'll start from scratch again, Shouldice gained some valuable confidence for the biggest day of his life, nailing both his qualifying jumps with a jam-packed crowd looking on.
"I couldn't be happier," he said. "I'm only five points off my personal high score. It's one of the best ones I've ever done. Considering the circumstances, I really can't complain with how today went."
Some of the world's top aerial artists, including reigning world champ Steve Omischl and Jeff Bean, Shouldice's Canadian teammates, weren't so lucky.
Another medal favourite, Calgary's Kyle Nissen, the current World Cup leader, advanced, placing seventh.
That only two of Canada's hopefuls advanced, though, has to be considered a disappointment.
"We have the strongest team, but sometimes things just don't line up," Nissen said.
Nobody was more upset about it than Omischl, the 27-year-old product of North Bay, Ont., who lives in Kelowna, B.C.
"I just worked my entire life ... what do you want me to say?" Omischl said. "It's probably the lowest point in my life. I worked 24/7 to get to the Olympics and do well. I put myself in position. I was world champion. I won (the World Cup title) in 2004. This was my year. This time around I was a contender, and I had an arsenal to win the thing."
Instead, on his second jump, he pulled off a back-landing that sounded way too much like a belly-flop into a pool.
In retrospect, Omischl says he tried too difficult a jump, that he should have played it safe yesterday, then gone for it in the finals.
"I probably shouldn't have rolled the dice this early in the game," he said. "Coulda, shoulda, woulda. I didn't."
Shouldice and Nissen still can, but the pressure only gets ramped up from here.
One day, 12 competitors, two jumps. And only three people will go home happy.
"Nothing but the podium," Shouldice said of his aim Thursday. "There's no awards for fourth."
That's why they call it Stress City.
