Russ misses slopestyle final, Woodsey on a roll for poms

Bad new on Australia day with Russ unable to compete (waiting for more news on his health) but James Woods is on a roll as Jodan Cook reports- So this is a really unexpected results from X-Slope! I was definitely expecting Russ to be in the finals, he couldn’t compete, and as for Tom, that MCL tear must be playing a little more havoc than he is letting on.

Woodsy is absolutely on fire with his contests this year! His top qualifying run was everything you want from the gold medal run! He executed everything with ease and made it all look like a walk in the park.

His run consisted of a switch 270 on to blind 270 out of the street rail, hand drag over the rainbow rail, switch 270 on to 450 out of the second street rail, front side switch up disaster on the flat down flat down box to switch out, switch on to cork 810 blunt out of the cannon box, into a left cork double 10 safety to japan, into the second last hit with a clearly on lock right side double cork 12 high mute, finishing things off with my favourite hit of his run, the switch right (natural) double cork 10 with an octo and a late shifty… perfect!
The finals are on sunday the 27th (28th for us aussies) and will have Woodsy going up against Andreas Hatviet (an older gentleman of the sport who could easily steal the gold at any point… an absolute cannon who cannot be under estimated!), Alex Bellemare (Throwing a bloody impressive, unexpected and innovative run! Coming up through the ranks fast!), Bobby Brown (looking to put a triple into his finals run which could call the whole event over if he can get er done!), Henrik Harlaut (the most innovative skier in the finals in my opinion, and always a crowd pleaser), Joss Christensen (I competed in Big Bear with this kid when we were about 14, and even back then he was doing some progressive things, so Im excited to see what he pulls out for finals!), Nick Goepper (the young powerhouse who has ever trick in the book in his quiver! As he gets older he is just going to get more style about his runs and will be at the forefront for sure) and Finally Alex Schlopy (The US Freeskiing Olympic team member, along with Boby Brown, showing that the US will be a force to be reckoned with at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.)
The final 8 move forward into the fierce finals where I expect things to step up another level on this amazing course!
I think Andreas looks like he is keeping something up his sleeve on this course, so Im going to be stoked to see what happens later at finals there!

Aspen, CO – January 25, 2013 – Buttermilk Mountain: James Woods competing in Ski Jeep Slopestyle Men’s Elimination during X Games Aspen 2013. (Photo by Matt Morning / ESPN Images)
1
James Woods
R
26.33
R
92.66
92.66
2
Andreas Håtveit
R
77.66
R
91.33
91.33
3
Alex Bellemare
R
89.00
R
30.00
89.00
4
Bobby Brown
R
87.00
R
87.33
87.33
5
Henrik Harlaut
R
84.33
R
86.00
86.00
6
Joss Christensen
R
85.33
R
29.00
85.33
7
Nick Goepper
R
85.00
R
82.66
85.00
8
Alex Schlopy
R
70.00
R
81.66
81.66
9
Tom Wallisch
R
29.00
R
80.66
80.66
10
Gus Kenworthy
R
22.66
R
78.00
78.00
11
Matt Walker
R
54.00
R
77.00
77.00
12
Mcrae Williams
R
76.00
R
69.66
76.00
13
Noah Morrison
R
65.66
R
53.33
65.66
14
Jossi Wells
R
19.66
R
29.00
29.00
15
Alex Beaulieu-Marchand
R
28.66
R
25.00
28.66
16
PK Hunder
R
14.00
R
22.66
22.66