Heatseeker, Hot Holes And One Helluva Heated Battle

It was a beauty day for both the women's and men's slopestyle finals at the Burton Canadian Open (CANO), where 16 guys and 8 ladies battled it out with a best-run-of-three format. Robby Balharry, Darcy Sharpe, Craig McMorris, and Matt Kulisek were the driving force of Canadians going into the men's finals, but there would be no Canadian ladies competing on their home turf; Molly Milligan bruised both her heals off the last jump in practice (those chinook winds were taking riders down all week), Natsuki Sato bruised a heel on the second jump yet still rode the qualifications, and Breanna Stangeland wasn't as consistent on the tubular-shaped blue rails (shipped in by Planet Snow Design) as this Calgary local is known to usually be.

The first rail was a 20ft round down flat with a well hung donkey dick at the end, followed by an interesting step-up stair feature box which flowed into two side-by-side round flats (which riders got very creative on), leading into the super poppy jump line - a 40 footer, a 60-foot booster, and a 50 footer - and ended up with the Mini Creative Space feature section: a hip with a bar on top which turned riders against the fall line and put them into three options: double kink, pole jam to stair gap, or a down bar. The course really tested the riders skills, but it was definitely the 60-footer jump that would make or break one's run: riders came off the smallest jump so hot that some had to literally throw on the brakes going into the 60 footer where they would land with quite a bit of compression into a huge step down.

For the girls, Kiwi Stefi Luxton has a super styley Front Board on lock, was strong on the rails, proved she could spin three different ways off the jumps, and landed third overall. Second place Swiss rider Sina Candrian had a sick Frontside 7 off the third jump in her first run, but it would be South Lake Tahoe's Jamie Anderson's with her second run that would crown her the consistent queen of cleaning up. Anderson's second run consisted of her boardsliding the down rail, to a tailslide 270 out on the step-up box feature, Tailslide to Fakie on the double bar, busted a Switch Front 5 off the first jump to Back 5 into a Switch Back 5, and ended with a Tail Grab to Backside 50-50 Backside 180 out. With Anderson's second run scored 14.5 points above the rest of the girls at 88.68, she was free to throw down whatever on her last run, and she proceeded with more of those switch Front 5s that she makes look so incredibly smooth, and then she ollied on and off the Mini car that was parked in their creative rail garden. This jib landed her an extra $2500, and inspired Morgan and Guldemond, a few of the men, to do the same.

McMorris killed it on the rails, top and bottom, but both Kulisek and him were having troubles with the second jump. Asking Craig McMorris what he thought of the course, he replied, "It's interesting: fun creative rails with pinner jumps." Darcy Sharpe added, "It was pretty fun, fast, and slushy - the best type of riding." Robby Balharry got bumped two slots out of the podium (fifth-place finish), and he couldn't move up in his final run when his Double Cork Back 10 off the 60 footer took him down.

Brandon Reis had the rails nailed and placed third. Justin Morgan and Chas Guldemond battled it out all day long with similar scoring right from the get go. Morgan was a shoe-in for the Creative Mini award with his front flip off the pole jam landing down the stairs. Morgan bumped Guldemond further into second place after his sick second run, until Guldemond threw down his victory lap in that same heat - a Front Lip on the down flat, Backside 180 to 360 off the box feature, with a Nollie Backside 180 off, which lead into a huge Switch Back 9, a Backside Double Cork 1080 into a super clean Backside Rodeo 900 , and wrapped it all up with a Frontside 270 Boardslide to Front Boardslide out. The battle for first place ensued into the finals, but Morgan did not stick his Double Cork off the second jump, and although this made Guldemond the winner, he still upped the ante by thowing down a Double Cork 12 off the second jump, and like Anderson, Guldemond jibbed the Mini car. So like guy, like girl, both the first-place winners of the Canadian Open were also winners of the Mini Creative Use of Space Award.

(keep reading for full results and an amazing Darcy Sharp mini-interview)