BigPurpleSkiSuitI feel like the judges don't necessarily understand how much harder it is to flatspin than backflip
FWT judging has always been hard. The balance of promoting the charge vs cross court tricks has been an ongoing debate since the athletic ability made it a discussion. In the first push of progression, the judges had the issue of whether they should promote massive, agressive hits or more calculated lines with a 360. They chose the latter, and in the end it became evident that it was the right call. Nobody has died since, and it aligned with the progression the athletes were moving towards.
Lately though, we are finding ourselves at another crossroad. Ben's run in France was criminally underscored, showing a trend that the judges reward cross court tricks over fall line charging. Big mountain competitions, imo, have been, and always should be about skiing over all else. If someone puts down a absolute boss of a fall line agressive run with minimal tricks, they should always have the potential to get on the podium.
Of course, when you have people like Marcus charging the fall line AND adding progressive tricks on every hit, it makes the whole debate a non issue.
Personally from my experience, I have no idea if a flatspin is actually harder than a backflip. I've never been very interested in cross court airs myself and have always attacked the fall line. In the Park I can do all sorts of tricks, sure... but on a downhill cliff takeoff, a 360 is way fucking harder than a flip... I've backflipped many cliffs, bit I've NEVR done a 360 off a soft, downhill cliff. On that note, when it comes to a 'flat' vs a back... a flat without going 540+ is just a well set wackflip, and wackflips are easier to spot the landing than a backflip.
You say flats are harder, but how many flats have you done off a cliff vs a backy?
In th end, Marcus and his cork 7s are proper next level. Only move forward from here is someone doing a double with rodeo 5 into switch overflip 5.
