MEN’S SUPERPIPE
The scene was set in Aspen last week for the X-Games pipe finals under the lights. The snow was flying all through the finals and the crowd was hyped to see the top pipe riders in the world give it their best shot at gold and X-Games fame.
With Japanese rider Ryo Aono, representing for ANON and R.E.D, setting the bar with his near flawless first run, riders knew that they would have to throw everything on the table to make the podium. Japanese Burton rider Kazu Kokubo was riding pipe for the first time this year and showed the crowd why he is considered one of the best in the world. His huge Michaelchuck’s and tens landed him in fifth place at the end of the night. Mason Aguirre rode strong and held a podium spot through most of the night until Kevin Pearce dropped in for his final run and bumped Mason to fourth. Kevin fought the snow in the flat to keep his speed throwing both front and cab tens, back to back nines and a tweaked out McTwist in his run to secure a bronze medal to go along with his silver from the slopestyle event the day before.
Shaun was in the number one spot going into his last run of the night, but wanted to make sure that he locked it up and went for it with a huge lien air on the first hit into a perfect McTwist, front ten to cab ten, front nine to back nine and finishing off with a frontside 1260. This run would give Shaun the highest score of the night and his seventh Winter X gold medal.
MEN’S SLOPESTYLE
During men’s slopestyle, Jussi was the first to show the riders that it would be a challenge to judge speed and spot landings in the flat light with a crash off the second jump. Mikkel Bang made the finals at his first X-Games appearance and threw down with a switch back ten off the final kicker but was not clean enough through the whole run to make podium this time around. Heikki Sorsa was determined to make the finals in his third shot at the X-Games slope and rewarded the crowd by coming out of a back nine, undoing his back binding on the go and stomping a one footed frontside three off the "money booter.” Mason Aguirre also rode strong in his first X-Games slope final, showing everyone that he is not only one of the best pipe riders in the world, but can hang with the best in the world in any slope event. Shaun White had almost flawless runs in the qualifier, but with just one sketch, he would settle for third place.
Kevin Pearce had a great first run with a cab nine, front ten, back nine into a cab ten on the jump line. He was going for it on his second run, but landed a little too far left off the second kicker and wasn't able to get back on course but was still strong enough for Kevin to claim his first X-Games silver medal. Kevin also competed in Big Air that same night, narrowly missing the gold medal with a huge frontside 1260, making him the only athlete to compete in all three X-Games freestyle snowboard events.
In Boardercross, Nate Holland edged out Markus Schairer in one of the most intense races in Winter X history in claiming his third consecutive Winter X-Games gold medal.
WOMEN’S SUPERPIPE
Women's pipe finals were insane! Kelly Clark set the pace for the night when she dropped in and stomped her first run. A huge frontside air into a backside five, frontside five, back seven, frontside air, huge frontside nine, ending it with a couple more huge straight airs. This took the pressure off Kelly and put the pressure on Gretchen and Torah who stepped it up as well. Gretchen answered back with a huge frontside nine on her first hit and switching up her run, moving her signature crippler down to her third frontside hit. Torah’s run was filled with technical riding including a cab seven nose grab and a huge McTwist.
As her first competition since her surgery after the Olympics, Hannah Teter had a hard time finding her flow the first two runs, but was able to set a smooth third run down. Even though it wasn’t enough for podium contention, Hannah is super excited about her recovery and looks forward to competing again.
Kelly came back with history making plans to stomp the 1080 - making her the first woman to ever try a 10 in pipe finals. The pipe was extremely fast that night, and Kelly dropped into the first hit of her third and final run boosting 15 feet! She was carrying way too much speed for her next hit, causing her to not quite bring the corked five around, but nonetheless was able to drop back in and go for the 10 one more time. This time, laying it down almost perfect! This was by far the most exciting women’s pipe finals ever. Thanks, Kelly, for putting on an amazing show and setting the bar!
WOMEN’S SLOPETSYLE
During women’s slopestyle, Jamie Anderson’s winning run was smooth and solid, including a styley cab seven last jump on the “money booter” as announcers like to call it. Spencer O’Brien held it down for Burton. Spencer’s slope run highlights included a huge frontside five and a smooth switch backside 180 over the gap. Spencer stomped her first run out the gate and the solid score of 80 held her through the rest of the two runs and onto the podium, grabbing the bronze and her 1st Winter X Medal.
HANNAH’S 21st BIRTHDAY PARTY AND CHARITY EVENT
With family by her side, a nice bottle of tequila, a special birthday serenade by Sal Masekela and over $1,500 raised for charity, Hannah Teter celebrated her 21st birthday as only she would. As midnight hit, over 150 family and friends including Hannah’s close friends and teammates Molly Aguirre, Elena Hight, Susie Floros and Gretchen Bleiler enjoyed a slide show of photos from Hannah's childhood and birthday cake while dancing to 50 Cent’s “In the Club”…of course.
TREVOR “TROUBLE” ANDREW ZUNE PARTY
Playing to an over-capacity crowd that required visits by the Fire Marshall at the Zune Originals Pop Up Shop on Cooper Avenue in downtown Aspen, Trouble ripped one his best shows to date. The frenzied crowd that rushed the stage included Burton team members Elena Hight, Anne-Flore Marxer, Danny Davis, Mason Aguirre, Shaun White as well as pro riders Marc Frank Montoya, Gretchen Bleiler, Torah Bright, Travis Rice, and just about every industry person at the games.
After turning the place into a crunk madhouse, Trevor and the rest of the band literally had to get off the stage and into a car to catch a flight in Denver to play a pair of shows in Germany and Austria for the ISPO show and Innsbruck Air and Style.
MONSTER ENERGY DRINK PARTY
During the weekend, the X-Games All-Star line up headed up to the Sun Deck on top of Aspen Mountain via the Gondola for an exclusive Monster Energy Drink party. Digital Underground blew up the Burton-sponsored stage, while Monster brought in some of the best “humpty” dancers from Colorado to grind on top of cubes throughout the party.
Before heading out to the west coast for shows that included a stop at the legendary Hollywood Bowl in LA, Santigold and Trouble stopped by the NYC Flagship store to pick up some travel gear that included Burton, Analog, ANON and Gravis goods.
Posts
