X Games Big Air is always a spectacle and this years iteration was no different. A few riders opted out of the starting gates in favour of saving themselves for the Big One; Henrik Harlaut and Birk Ruud (also not competing in halfpipe tomorrow) for instance. The start list was still full of heat and the boys brought it big time. This one was an absolute classic... and so hard to keep up with.
Mac Forehand, Matej Svancer and Edouard Therriault entered the field as X Games rookies and brought fire of the youth to proceedings from the word go. A 30 minute jam, where the best two (different) runs counted towards the final score was the order of the day. Runs were rattled through and totalled 6 per rider by the conclusion of things.
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Run 1:
Mac Forehand opened the party throwing a switch triple 18, lead blunt to Japan but bottomed out the landing. Teal Harle dropped his switch triple 14 pulled back to twelve earning a strong 40. Edouard Therriault lost a shoe on the takeoff of a triple, kept his nerve and took the slam well. Colby Stevenson laced a dub 1980 lead blunt, capped - he actually slid into it, A Hall wouldn't be happy - earning a 44.
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Run 2:
Mac Forehand earned himself 42 with a switch dub 18, lead tail to japan. Gucci plateau stomp. Teal Harle added 42 to to his score to take provisional first. We saw a raw triple 16 from Colby, Evan lost a shoe, took an even nastier slam than Edouard did, Matej threw a nosebutter triple 19 Japan to earn the highest single score of the night so far at 48. A Hall laced a dub 18 Buick and Andri fell trying his own version of the pretzel.
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Run 3:
Teal Harle put down a triple 1980, super clean and massive. It went down well with the judges, 44 put him in first, seemed like it was a new trick for him. Edouard Therriault earned a 39 with his triple 18, skiing with style and entertaining the crowd. Colby laced a triple 16 blunt which put him into third. Evan, back after a nasty slam took a second, opening up on a huge switch rotation, taking it hard to the back although he got up fast he sat out the rest of the event. Matej threw a quad but didn' stick it. A Hall earned a 38 with a dub 16 Buick to squeeze past Colby. Andri brought his pretzel around to his feet but got his skis caught up in the landing.
Run 4:
Mac Forehand laced a switch dub 18 with as nice a blunt as you'll see in a spin that big, earning 44 and third with 86.Edouard Therriault switch dub 14 dub seatbelt earned himself a 47 to take provisional first. Colby Stevenson skiing like a man possessed tried a switch 19 but fell. At this point the top 3, Therriault, Harle and Forehand all had scores of 86. The battle at the top was tight. Matej tried the quad again, not quite enough air but he looked close. A Hall stormed into first with the dub 1980 Buick so unbelievably clean, a 46 totalled his top spot score to 89. Andri landed his triple 14 pull back to 12 for 39 but failed to contest the top from here.
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Run 5:
Mac Forehands dub 1980 blunt this around scoring 45 and earning him second. Teal cleaned up his signature, he locked the pretzel early improving his score to 43. Matej Landed his switch quad 16, the judges didn't reward this one very highly... he remained in third. Andri took a big slam, going for a switch triple 16 attempt.
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Run 6:
Mac Forehand added to his dub 18 score of 44 with a switch triple 18 that earned him 47 and a total score of 92 and second. Teal H threw a triple 18 of his own (forward variety) also earning 47 and second. Matej laced up a nosebutter double 19 tindy and score 48, meaning (as far as we can tell) he should have totalled 96 and taken top spot. Someone missed some adding up somewhere (or thought this was the same trick as his run 2 triple). A Hall in true wizard style put down a switch 2160 Buick, landing firmly in the future, scoring 48, putting bringing his total score to 94 and taking the gold medal This was an insane event now also a controversial one.
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Highlights:
Podium Runs:
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1028119/Big-Air---Aspen-X-HLs-mov
Matej's Runs:
https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1028122/Matej-R2-mov
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Results:
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