David Morris (skier)

Last updated

David Morris
David Morris Sochi Silver Medallist in Australian yellow podium jacket.jpg
David Morris, Australian Aerial Skier and Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Silver Medallist
Personal information
Born (1984-08-31) 31 August 1984 (age 39)
Melbourne Australia
Height171 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight67 kg (148 lb; 10.6 st) [1]
Websitewww.aerialskier.com
Sport
CountryFlag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Sport Freestyle skiing
Medal record
Men's Freestyle skiing
Representing Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2014 Sochi Aerials

David John Morris (born 31 August 1984) is an Australian aerial/freestyle skier who competed in 3 Winter Olympic Games in 2010, 2014 and 2018. He is Australia's most successful male aerial skier, having competed across FIS World Cup, World Championships and Winter Olympic competitions. He is the first Australian male aerial skier to compete at two consecutive Olympic Games, [2] and the first Australian medalist in the Olympic Men's Aerials.

Contents

Early and personal life

Morris was born in Melbourne. He has a younger brother and younger sister.[ citation needed ]

At about four years of age, he commenced a lifelong passion for gymnastics at the Nunawading Gymnastics and Sports Club [3] (NGSC, formally known as the Nunawading Youth Club) and he learned to ski at age three. He has demonstrated capabilities in cricket, diving and football but has always returned to gymnastics and from there to aerial skiing.

He is a qualified Mathematics and Physical Education teacher and, when he is at home between training camps and competitions, occasionally works as an emergency relief teacher at Whitefriars College, Donvale. He also coaches gymnastics, cheerleading and trampoline and is in demand as a motivational speaker. [4]

Morris released his self-published autobiography "SECOND NATURE - The Making of a Professional Athlete" in December 2014 following his Olympic silver medal performance in Sochi 2014.

Skiing career

Early aerial skiing career

Morris' talent for acrobatics and his potential to become an aerialist was originally discovered while working as a gymnastics coach at NGSC, by Kirstie Marshall, former Australian World Champion aerial skier, who was the local State Member of Parliament at the time.[ citation needed ]

Since Australia did not have a program for male aerial skiers, Marshall volunteered to coach him on weekends in the basics of aerial skiing and when she was expecting her second child, she enlisted the help of former Australian male aerial skier Jonathan Sweet, [5] as a personal coach until Morris was ready for private training overseas.

Competitive performance

Australian Aerial Skier David Morris at the 2014 Lake Placid World Cup Event. Lake Placid, New York City. Aerial Skier David Morris, Lake Placid 2014.jpg
Australian Aerial Skier David Morris at the 2014 Lake Placid World Cup Event. Lake Placid, New York City.

Morris won his first medal (a Silver) in an International Skiing Federation (FIS) race (USA selections) on 20 December 2007 in Park City and has gone on to become Australia's most successful male Aerial Skier, finishing the 2012/13 season ranked second in the World Cup standings. He has achieved a number of wins in various FIS Competitions. He was the first Australia Male Aerial Skier to win a World Cup gold medal, and in doing so he became Australia's most successful male Aerial Skier. [6] He would later go on to win a Silver Medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, becoming Australia's first male aerial skier to do so.

CompetitionNo. of medalsNo. of times competedBest single resultBest overall season result
FIS Races392ndn/a
NorAm4161st (twice)4th (2007/08 and 2008/09)
Europa Cup362nd10th (2012/13)
World Cup5391st2nd (2013/14)
World Championship143rdn/a
Winter Olympics132ndn/a

2010 Winter Olympics/Olympic debut

Australian Aerial Skier David Morris at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada David Morris at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver, Canada.jpg
Australian Aerial Skier David Morris at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada

Morris' performances led to his selection in the Australian Olympic Team [8] for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada, where he finished in 13th position. [9]

He was the first Australian male to compete in aerial skiing at the Winter Olympics for 12 years. During the Vancouver 2010 Games, Morris was coached by Jerry Grossi [10] who formerly competed in aerial skiing for the USA. [11]

Injury and comeback

In the 2010/11 competition season Morris injured his hip during a competition in Calgary, requiring surgery and a long recuperation.[ citation needed ] As a result, he stepped out of competition during 2011/12 and re-evaluated whether to continue in the sport. He used this break from the sport to complete his much deferred university course.[ citation needed ]

Having come to the view that he still had more to offer, Morris concentrated on regaining his fitness through gym work and recommenced competitive aerials in 2012/13. His come-back season in 2012/13 proved to be his best ever with two podium finishes, including 1st place in Bukovel, Ukraine. [12] His win was broadcast in Australia on Eurosport. [13]

Morris was selected to compete for Australia at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. [14]

2014 Winter Olympics

Sochi 2014 Men's Aerial Skiing Medallists. Anton Kushnir (Gold), David Morris (Silver), Jia Zongyang (Bronze) David Morris Silver Medal Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.JPG
Sochi 2014 Men's Aerial Skiing Medallists. Anton Kushnir (Gold), David Morris (Silver), Jia Zongyang (Bronze)
Morris at the 2014 Australia Winter Olympic Team Reception, Sochi, Russia. David Morris Australian Olympic Team.jpg
Morris at the 2014 Australia Winter Olympic Team Reception, Sochi, Russia.

Morris was one of 60 members of the Australian Winter Olympic team in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. [14] He competed in the Men's Aerial Skiing competition held on 17 February 2014, winning the silver medal. [14] He was coached by Cord Spero and Eli Budd. [15] Morris was also elected to be the flag bearer for the Australian team at closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games. [16]

2018 Winter Olympics

Morris competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics where he finished 10th in the men’s aerials final. [17] [18]

Awards

Apart from his sporting achievements and Olympic Silver Medal, Morris has also received various other honours and awards, including:

– 2014 Ski and Snowboard Australia Athlete of the Year, Joint winner with Torah Bright. [19]

– 2014 Sir Wilfred Kent Hughes Award: Awarded by the Victorian Olympic Council. [20]

– The award for "Senior Sportsman of the Year" at Whitefriars College in 2014 (David's high-school) has been named in his honour.

– 2013 Ski and Snowboard Australia Aerial Skiing Athlete of the Year. [21]

Current statistics

As at 11 September 2015, Morris is ranked 30th in the world based on FIS points. [22] At the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, he qualified [22] 3rd in the Olympic Winter Games selection rankings. Morris finished the 2013–2014 Aerial Skiing World Cup season in 6th place. [23] He has yet to compete in a subsequent World Cup season. He holds the Australian Record for the highest point score of 247.91 at the Lake Placid World Cup on 18 January 2013, [24] (registration required) and the second highest point score of 242.93 at the Val Saint-Côme Freestyle skiing World Cup on 12 January 2013, for two consecutive jumps in an international competition. [25]

Related Research Articles

Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and boxes on their skis. Known as "hot-dogging" in the early 1970s, it is also commonly referred to as freeskiing, jibbing, as well as many other names, around the world.

Kirstie Claire Marshall, OAM is an Australian aerial skier and Victorian state politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the Winter Olympics</span> Participation of Australia in the Winter Olympics

Australia first competed in the Winter Olympic Games in 1936 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and has participated in every games since, with the exception of the 1948 Games in St. Moritz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lydia Lassila</span> Australian freestyle skier

Lydia Lassila is an Australian Olympic freestyle skier gold medalist who competed in the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympic Games. She is the 2010 Olympic champion and the 2014 bronze medalist in aerials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aleksei Grishin</span> Belarusian freestyle skier

Aleksei Gennadyevich Grishin is a Belarusian freestyle skier who competed at five consecutive Olympics from 1998 to 2014. He won Belarus' only medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics, a bronze in aerials. In 2010, he won the first ever Winter Olympics gold medal for his country, again in the aerials. He finished fourth in 2006 and eighth in 1998. He was the Olympic flag bearer for Belarus at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexandre Bilodeau</span> Canadian freestyle skier

Alexandre Bilodeau is a Canadian retired freestyle skier from Rosemere, Quebec, Bilodeau currently resides in Montreal, Quebec. Bilodeau won a gold medal in the men's moguls at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, becoming the first Canadian to win a gold medal at an Olympic Games held in Canada. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, he became the first Olympian in history to defend his gold medal in any freestyle skiing event as well as the first Canadian to defend an individual title since Catriona Le May Doan at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Bilodeau is a three-time FIS World Champion in dual moguls, and is also a two-time Worlds silver medallist in moguls. He was the FIS World Cup champion for the 2008–09 season winning the moguls and overall freestyle skiing title that season. In his final World Cup race, he retired with a win, and in doing so, surpassed Jean-Luc Brassard for the most World Cup medals by a Canadian.

Ashley Caldwell is an American freestyle skier who has competed in aerials since 2008. Caldwell was named to the US team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in January 2010 after competing in the sport for only two seasons. The youngest in the event, she reached the finals of the Aerials. Caldwell won her first World Cup aerials event in the United States in Lake Placid, New York in January 2011, becoming the youngest freestyle female ever to win.

Anna Segal is an Australian Olympic freestyle slopestyle skier and two-time world champion.

Rosalind Groenewoud is a Canadian freeskier. She is the 2011 FIS World Champion in halfpipe, Groenewoud is also a 2012 Winter X Games champion x 2 and has 3 silver and two bronze medals from X Games competitions in halfpipe. She won the AFP Overall Championship in 2009 & 2010 and AFP Halfpipe Overall Ranking in 2012. She is the first woman to design her own pro-model freestyle ski with the female owned ski company Coalition Snow.

Travis Gerrits is a former Canadian freestyle skier. Gerrits was the silver medalist from the 2013 FIS World Championships and was named the FIS Rookie of the Year in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selina Gasparin</span> Swiss biathlete

Selina Gasparin is a Swiss biathlete.

James Woods is a British freestyle skier. He has won six medals at FIS World Cup and two medals at FIS World Championships

Danielle Scott is an Australian freestyle skier specialising in Aerial Skiing. Scott represented Australia at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. She won a bronze medal at the 2013 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships. Scott was offered a scholarship for Artistic Gymnastics at the age of 7 at the Australian Institute of Sport, being the youngest athlete to be offered a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia at the 2014 Winter Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Australia competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 23 February 2014. Australia's team consisted of 60 athletes competing in 11 sports, which represented the largest Winter Olympics team the country had ever sent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel at the 2014 Winter Olympics</span> Israels competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Israel competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The team consisted of five athletes. Vladislav Bykanov was the first male athlete to qualify from Israel in short track speed skating.

Billy Morgan is an English snowboarder, who won a big air Bronze medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea

Nicole Parks is an Australian freestyle skier. She competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where she qualified for the moguls finals, retired from competition skiing in 2017, and is now a coach.

Rowan Cheshire is a British freestyle skier, specialising in the halfpipe. Cheshire competed in the 2013 FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup in Voss, Norway, where she finished 17th. She won a bronze medal at the 2013 World Junior Championships in Valmalenco. In January 2014 she became the first British female skier to win a halfpipe competition on the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup when she took the halfpipe event at a meeting in Calgary. This was the first Freestyle World Cup win for a British female skier since Jilly Curry won an aerials competition in 1992.

Laura Peel is an Australian freestyle skier. She was two time world champion and two time World Cup winner, at the women's aerials discipline. She competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, in women's aerials, at the 2018 Winter Olympics, in women's aerials, where she placed fifth, and at the 2022 Winter Olympics, in Women's aerials, where she placed fifth.

Naoya Tabara is a Japanese male artistic gymnast and freestyle skier. He has formerly competed as a gymnast and has participated at the gymnastic competitions until 2005 before switching on to take the sport of freestyle skiing in 2006. Naoya Tabara sustained a shoulder injury in 2005 when he was professional artistic gymnast which caused him to choose aerials freestyle skiing. He participated at the 2018 Winter Olympics and competed in the freestyle skiing men's aerials event.

References

  1. "David Morris Sochi 2014 Australian Olympic Committee profile". Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  2. Filmer, Natalie (14 November 2013). "Park Orchards skier David Morris preparing for Winter Olympics in Sochi". The Herald-Sun. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  3. "Monday is Morris Night... as David Claims Silver in Sochi". Nunawading.gymnastics.org.au. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  4. "About VCE help". Vcehelp.com.au. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  5. "Australian Olympic Committee: Jonathan Sweet". Corporate.olympics.com.au. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  6. "Morris creates history | Sochi 2014". Sochi2014.olympics.com.au. 24 February 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  7. "MORRIS, David – Biographie". Data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  8. "Vancouver 2010: David Morris". Vancouver2010.olympics.com.au. 12 September 2011. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  9. "Olympic Results". Sports reference.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  10. "Mogul Skiing – Jerry Grossi – Sochi 2014". Owia.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  11. "Jerry Grossi – Biography". fis.ski.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  12. "Spur of the moment decision creates history". Owia.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  13. "David Morris Wins Bukovel, Ukraine Aerial Skiing World Cup, YouTube". YouTube . Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  14. 1 2 3 "David Morris – Sochi 2014". Sochi2014.olympics.com.au. Archived from the original on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  15. "Olympic success for coach Cord Spero". dailyheraldtribute. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  16. "Sochi 2014: David Morris to carry Australian flag at Olympic Winter Games closing ceremony". ABC News Australia. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  17. "David Morris" . Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  18. Glenn Cullen and Warren Barnsley (19 February 2018). "Winter Olympics 2018: Controversy as David Morris is knocked out of finals". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  19. "Bright, Morris win top gongs". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  20. "Honour Roll". Victorian Olympic Council. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  21. "Chumpy Wins Athlete of the Year". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  22. 1 2 "Cup standings". Data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  23. "Cup standings". Data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  24. "World Cup – Men's Aerials 18.01.2013". Data.fis-ski.com. 18 January 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  25. "World Cup – Men's Aerials 12.01.2013". Data.fis-ski.com. Retrieved 18 February 2014.