Best contest ever? Many
attendees at the Burton Canadian Open slopestyle, held today in Calgary,
Alberta, seemed to think so. And much credit was given to the shape, size and
trajectory of the two jumps on the course. The blue-bird sky and balmy
spring-like weather didn't hurt either.
"Best jumps ever in
Alberta," claimed local rider Dwayne Wiebe, who was qualifed for semi-finals,
but happily spent the finals in the Coors Light beer garden cheering on his friends.
The rider-friendly course
and good weather vibes ratcheted up the progression factor big-time, with 1280s and double-cork 1080s being the stand-out
tricks of the day. A truly next-level switch backside 1280 by Norway's Mikkel
Bang, stomped during his third run of the finals, pushed him into first place.
He beat out both Sebastian "Seb Toots" Toutant in second and Charles Reid in
third, both of whom laid down masive double-corked frontside 1080s during their
runs.
Mikkel Bang.
In the women's field,
Germany's Silvia Mittermueller linked up a slick switch backside 540 to a
frontside 720, earning her the top spot on the podium. American's Megan Ginter
and Mary Sallah took second and third place, respectively, behind her.
"I am in love with the
course," Mittermueller exclaimed after receiving her first place trophy. "I am
so glad they made the jumps and the course more rider-friendly. If you watch
X-Games or the Dew Tour, they build such massive jumps and if you fall you will
definitely hurt yourself. The jumps today were big enough to do all kinds of
crazy tricks, but you're not going to die if you fuck up a little bit. It
encourages all of us to have fun and try hard, and to try different stuff
because it's less risky."
Silvia Mittermueller.
The men's battle for the
podium was fierce. Not even Chas Guldemond, who ranks at the top of TTR rider's
list, could do better than fourth place in spite of stomping a backside 1260 in
two of his runs. Seb Toots looked to be the winner, with his truly
awe-inspiring double-corked frontside 1080s, which announcer Daryl Trinidad
repeatedly described as "the best looking trick in snowboarding", until Bang
unleashed his money-shot switch backside 1260 during his final run. Several
other riders tried to step up to 1260s, including Jesmond Dubeau, who came ultra-close
to landing a frontside version, but no one could overtake Bang.
The Calgary crowd had high
hopes for yesterday's halfpipe winner, Jed Anderson, but it was not to be his
day twice in a row. In spite of linking frontisde 900s to switch backside 900s,
he couldn't stomp a clean enough run to rise higher than 15th place.
But considering he won $7,500 yesterday, I'm sure he went home without regrets.
Burton's Liam Griffin.
Burton's Liam Griffin, who
heads up the staff behind the Global Open series, was elated with how the contest
wrapped up.
"I'm super pumped right
now," he said with an ear-to-ear smile. "It took us three years to get this off
the ground, after lots of weather problems and date changes, karma changed its
ways and gave us some epic weather. I heard somebody just say this was the best
snowboarding they'd ever seen in real life, and it's just amazing for people to
see that for the first time. That's a big part of what we do, which is to bring
international-level events to a local field, and allow those local riders to
compete against some of the best in the world and it really pushes the sport
forward wherever we are."
For Griffin, a Canadian who
works for Burton out of Vermont, it was extra-sweet to see such a high level of
riding at the first ever Canadian Open.
"Everyone really stepped up.
To see front double-cork 10s and switch back 12s... It was pretty crazy to see
all these stomped, perfect runs. We're super happy and looking forward to the
future of this event. And Calgary is rad. The venue is incredible."
Click here to see a gallery of photos from the slopestyle finals.
Click here to see the exclusive Push.ca video from the slopestyle and
halfpipe qualifiers.
Plus:
Day One at the Canadian Open
Day Two at the Canadian Open
Halfpipe Finals
From L to R: Sebastien Toutant, Mikkel Bang and Charles Reid.
Men's Slopestyle Finals
- Mikkel Bang
- Sebastien "Seb Toots" Toutant
- Charles Reid
- Chas Guldemond
- Eric Willett
- Sami Saarenpaa
- Logan Haubrich
- Mark Sollars
- Warren Williams
- Sage Kotsenburg
- Jesmond Dubeau
- Chris Sorman
- Jeremy Cloutier
- Matt Belzille
- Jed
Anderson
- Craig Beaulieu
From L to R: Megan Ginter, Silvia Mittermueller and Mary Sallah.
Women's Slopestyle Finals
- Silvia Mittermueller
- Megan Ginter
- Mary Sallah
- Lisa Wiik
- Breanna Strangeland
- Spencer O'Brien
- Sarka Panchova
- Cecilia Larsen