Slopestyle at X Games Norway took place in the rain today, but the weather didn't dampen the rider's spirits. Andri Ragettli set the early bar on the Men's side... or at least occupied the first place spot in the rankings after the first run. He had one slight early-off on the rails but it wasn't enough to ruin his run, and he killed it on the jumps. I thought compatriot Fabian Boesch would move above him, but even with a triple 16 stomped at the bottom, it wasn't enough.
Most guys were utilizing the course in a really interesting way, using the many side transitions to hit rails from every angle but there were a fair few little mistakes too. Birk Ruud did put down a savage run though and briefly took the lead on run two. His front 3 swap on the down rail was the highlight. Andri immediately answered with a banger run of his own, perhaps not as crazy as Birk's, especially on the rails, but it was his second clean stomp in a row. Boesch also put down another banger to take second spot, while A Hall put down his first clean run of the day to move into contention.
Jesper Tjader somehow slid through the entire of the almost 90 degree turning double elbow feature and stomped a pretz'd dub on the bottom jump. That rail was fucked to do in a comp run, but it was only enough for provisional third... no matter the judging format, Jesper never seems to get much credit. Andri landed another run, totally stock up top, but then stomped a switch dub misty 16 on the bottom jump. Alex Hall pushed himself in to second with another clean one, featuring plenty of unique rail tricks.
On the final run of the day, Jesper had an early off on the rails, effectively ending his medal challenge. Antoine Adelisse had various degrees of issues on all of his runs and came unstuck on his switch pre-nose triple on his final attempt. Oystein Braten landed all but one of his runs but was somewhat mysteriously stuck in 5th. Colby Stevenson was creative all day long but couldn't put a complete run together. Andri Ragettli stomped yet another run of average rails and went huge on a triple 16 on the bottom jump. All four runs were pretty similar... variations on a theme, but he did stomp them all. Alex Hall was way more technical and creative, especially on the rails, but not as clean or consistent throughout the event, leaving him in second. Fabian Boesch crashed on the rails, consigning himself to third on the day.
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Men's Podium:
3rd Place - Fabian Boesch
2nd Place - Alex Hall
1st Place - Andri Ragettli
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