Shaun White win Snowboard SuperPipe gold with double McTwist 1260, photo: Mark Kohlman/ESPN Action Sports
. world ski news : Winter X Games 15 ends with Shaun`s double McTwist 1260 for victory in SuperPipe - 31 January 2011 - 08:30
Shaun White once again dominated, but Aspen, Colo. is more stocked with WX-royalty than ever before
WINTER X GAMES. Shaun White layed down a monster second run for an unprecedented Four-Peat in SuperPipe; Sebastien Toutant won Slopestyle Gold; Rukajarvi wins Women's Slope.
White wins first WX SuperPipe four-peat
Shaun layed down a monster second run for an unprecedented Four-Peat in SuperPipe
Snowboard SuperPipe Men's Final
After his first run in Sunday night's Snowboard SuperPipe final, Shaun White found himself in an unusual position: second place. His Olympic podium mate, Scotty Lago, had just thrown a massive run that began with a cab double cork 1080 and set the height bar higher than anyone else in the field. White, the last rider to go due to his first-place qualifying position, landed near the flat bottom following his third-to-last hit and struggled through the final two hits of his run with diminished speed.
Shaun White win Snowboard SuperPipe gold with double McTwist 1260, photo: Mark Kohlman/ESPN Action Sports
After failing to qualify for the Slopestyle final on Saturday in his return to that event after a year hiatus, it was fair to ask the question: Was this just not White's year?
On his second run, Lago crashed, leaving a crack in the door. White -- known as one of the fiercest competitors in all of action sports -- stormed through.
"I saw Lago destroying it and figured it was all or nothing at that point," White said. I knew I needed to stick the best run I had, and I went for it."
His second run began with a backside air nearly 20 feet out of the pipe and he built on it from there: double cork stalefish 1080 to cab double cork 1080 to front stalefish 5 to double McTwist 1260 to backside alley oop rodeo.
This is the first time White has thrown the double McTwist 1260 since his victory lap in the Olympics. The Olympics was the first place he'd thrown the double McTwist around from a 1080 to a 1260. The run earned him a 97.33 -- an identical score to his winning run last year and tied for the highest score in Winter X Games history. "Thank goodness," he said at the top of the pipe following his run. "I did NOT want it to come down to that last run!"
At that point, there was still a run left for Lago to regain the lead, but Lago, riding with a badly broken jaw after a crash suffered filming in the backcountry with Travis Rice just weeks before Winter X, crashed again on his third and final run, sealing White's victory.
"I obviously knew Shaun was going to throw down," said Lago after the event. "That's one of the better runs I've ever put down. It's better than the run I put down at the Olympics. I couldn't be any happier."
Louie Vito, who until this point has always been a Winter X bridesmaid, but never a bride, won his first Winter X (in the US) medal tonight. "That's the first front 12 I've thrown all year," said Vito. "I'm happy I landed. It probably could have been a little better looking, but I stayed on my feet. It's nice to do it in front of all these people. They're so stoked, and it's always nice to hang out with people who are just hyped on snowboarding."
When asked Kazuhiro Kokubo's run did not score as high as some in the viewing audience felt it deserved to, a Winter X judge explained, "That was definitely tough. It was basically him, Vito and Marcus. He went way higher, but was not as technical." As to White's score, the judge replied, "What I head from the other [Winter X] judges was that this was the best run they'd ever seen from him."
Asked how it felt to be back on top after his Slopestyle style set back, White responded, "I knew I wasn't holding the biggest cards, but after living and learning, I was so fired up coming into pipe. I did my thing, and it built me up again."
ESPN Action Sports
January 31, 2011, 1:51 AM ET
The youth take over
Sebastien Toutant won Slopestyle Gold
Snowboard Slopestyle Men's Final
Last year, Seb Toutant blew out his ankle at the Air & Style Innsbruck and was out for the season. This year, he came back in full force, winning the Air & Style Beijing just days after his 18th birthday, and has gone on to win every TTR Big Air contest this season, plus the FIS Big Air in Stockholm. So far he's only managed to podium in one slopestyle competition. All that changed here at Winter X.
The French Canadian qualified for Slopestyle with a 97 -- the highest score ever recorded in Winter X slope. Today Toutant became the second rookie to ever win Winter X Slope. (Travis Rice was the first one, and we all know what happened to him after that.) Seb Toots is a machine. He might have the most double cork variations under his belt than any other rider, and he rarely ever falls.
Still, the best thing about slopestyle right now is it's really anyone's game. Toutant may be good, but so is just about every other rider at the top of the competitive field. Take fellow Canadian Mark McMorris, who is here at his first Winter X at the age of 17. He's been competing all season alongside Seb and has a flair to his tricks -- like his 1260 doublecork nose grab, for example -- that makes him a contender in any contest.
"I'm freaking out," said Mark McMorris of his second-place finish. "I'm just trying to wake up. I'm not sure if it's real yet because I never expected a year ago to be in the X Games. I can't even express how stoked I am. And Seb is such a good friend of mine -- I'm so happy to see him win."
"Seb Toots is on another level," said third place finisher Tyler Flanagan, who is also 17. "Honestly, I was about to cry at the end there when Torstein fell. I had the worst practice ever this morning. I'm so stoked I was finally able to just land."
Asked how it is that the level of riding in slopestyle has come so far, so fast, Toutant explained: "We've got a little advantage, because if you look back in the day the jumps were so small, with flat landings. Everything was so bad. For us, when we grew up riding, starting at nine years old there's perfect parks, perfect landings. Everything was built so good, and there were all these riders pushing us to get better."
Silver medalist Mark McMorris in the middle of his 1260 double cork nose grab, photo: Mark Kohlman/ESPN Action Sports
As to how a Winter X win compares to all of the other wins he's been clocking lately, Toutant replied that, "X Games is so big for me. It was my dream since I was nine years old."
Crowd favorite Torstein Horgmo rode really well, despite the concussion he sustained at the Big Air the other night, and the broken rib he's been competing with all season. Unfortunately the shadowed landings on the downsides of the kickers were the undoing of many riders today, including Horgmo and last year's Big Air winner Halldor Helgason, who were unable to complete a run without falling.
By Melissa Larsen and Liam Gallagher
ESPN Action Sports
January 30, 2011, 6:16 PM ET
Rukajarvi wins Women's Slope
The you Finnish rider shocked the field by jumping into the lead on her third run
Snowboard Slopestyle Women's Final
There is a new champion in Winter X Women's Slopestyle. The battle for the top spot came down to a two woman show between two-time Slope gold medalist Jenny Jones and newcomer Enni Rukajarvi. Jones threw a solid 540 to cab 5 to frontside 7 combo through the booter section of the course, all landed solidly, and Rukajarvi answered with a 360 to 540 to cab 7. The upstart from Finland was a bit more creative in the rail section, however, throwing a 180 off the top rail into a switch 180 bonk on the joystick, giving her the win.
"I'm so surprised," said Rukajarvi after the dust settled and Jones failed to land the 900 on her last run that would have pushed her back into the lead. "It was a little bit hard because everything on the course was close together, but I liked it. I'm happy. It's just amazing."
Veteran Jana Meyen-Weatherby looked as stylish as ever riding through the course, but she couldn't put a solid enough run together to break into the podium. The second kicker seemed to be giving a lot of the women trouble, and more than one lost the speed she needed to hit all of the kickers on the course.
Jamie Anderson, who is currently the TTR World Tour point leader and has won every slopestyle contest she's entered this season, including both Dew Tour stops and Burton Opens, fell on her 7 attempts and came in third.
"You definitely get bummed when you know you can do better and you don't, but I'm stoked for the girls who did do better," said Anderson, who has six Winter X slopestyle medals, including two golds. "I just want to go train more because I'm not good enough anymore. I've been having trouble with my 7s all year, and now that I have more time I'm going to get them dialed. I'm stoked on third, though. It was a good day.
ESPN Action Sports
January 30, 2011, 3:20 PM ET