Happy Straya day for yesterday everyone! Get out of the pool and checkout history in the making at x-games though. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Here is a quick rundown on what has happened so far in the free skiing game from our Freeride Editor Jodan Cook.
PIPE:
Looking at what Torin and David are doing in the pipe, it is impossible not to smile about it as they are absolutely pushing the limits and doing things that weren’t even happening last year.
They are really showing the gap between the future athletes of the sport and those who have been in the game for longer.
Both David Wise (1st) and Torin Yater-Wallace (2nd) have three back-to-back doubles in them, showing that in order to compete into the future, runs are likely going to need to be almost all doubles, making even small errors like speed scrubbing a major problem for athletes.
Simon Dumont (3rd) put together a great run, but it was clear that it was somewhat out of date, not linking any doubles back-to-back.
David Wise absolutely deserved the win on this event in my eyes! He is not only linking doubles together, he is linking the biggest doubles of the contest, shooting way out on his third hit (right side double cork 12) essentially showing that he means serious business now and into the future.
I wouldnt be surprised to see him replace his remaining hits with doubles in the next year as that seems to be what is in the future of pipe, and David Wise has shown that he has what it takes to pioneer the development.
BIG AIR:
Watching the footage from this I literally can’t contain my excitement when Henrik Harlaut stomped a perfect NOSE BUTTER TRIPLE cork 12 safety! This is absolutely the most exciting thing I have seen at an event since TJ did his infamous switch 1440 at the US Open Big Air!
This guy is absolutely slaying it in every aspect of skiing, and as far as innovation goes, you cannot look any further than Henrik.
He is clearly such a huge influence on the progression of skiing and has done it again today at X!
Kai Mahler came in second with a flawless switch double misty 1620 mute, riding away from it in the trademark Tom Wallisch way, looking like he may not have even been awake for the trick.
I like to see that style still comes into the equation a lot here! Kai got through without tripling and just making his double flawlessly smooth. In my opinion skiing should be focused on making sure that the less technical, more stylish tricks don’t go by the way side… I would hate to see things get too aerialist out there.
Elias Ambuhl came to the podium with a triple cork 1440 mute that was also pretty much flawless.
The level of skiing is increasing at such a rate that I can’t believe the differences between the years. There is no doubt that by the time we arrive at Sochi in 2014 Freeskiing will be an entirely different beast than it is today.
Also something that I thought was worthy mentioning is Gus Kenworthy’s switch triple rodeo! Unfortunately he didn’t make it through to the podium, but he did add to the night of records being set and history being made.
So huge props to him and everyone involved in this wicked event.
This year has gone off, I couldn’t be more stoked on people performances, and especially Aspen/Buttermilks efforts in putting together the courses!
I can’t wait to see mens and womens SlopeStyle! We all want Anna to kill it, so get behind her! Like I said before, I think Andreas might have something up his sleeve and looking at Woodsy’s streak this winter he is likely to be gunning super hard for his X Gold in Aspen.
Exciting one day ahead.
Podium shot Aspen, CO – January 26, 2013 – Buttermilk Mountain: (L to R) Kai Mahler, Henrik Harlaut and Elias Ambuhl on the podium after competing in Ski Big Air Final at X Games Aspen 2013. (Photo by Gabriel Christus / ESPN Images)
