The bright lights and massive kickers of the American X Games may have been daunting, but the hotshots of extreme sports put on a blinding show of inspiration for the rest of the snowboarding world.
Delighting the Brits, golden girl Jenny Jones was once again in her prime as topdog of the women's slopestyle event for the second year running at the American X Games held in Aspen this weekend.
Riding on an injured knee that was swollen to the “size of a football,” she laid down a solid winning run with back-to-back 540s (frontside and Cab) and a frontside 720. Noone else could make the grade, leaving Bristolian lass Jenny in the top podium spot for another year in a row. Congratulations!
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Gretchen Bleiler wowed a home crowd as she took her title as X Games women's superpipe supremo 2010. Throwing down a massive frontside 900, crippler 720, cab 720 and backside 540, Gretchen’s victory was all the more sweeter considering at last years X-Games it was all over after a huge face plant in the pipe. The Gold medallist was clearly stoked as anything, raising her arms in the air after her amazing run.
Now, on to the men. Turns out, the first run was THE run. Eero Ettala landed this: backside 1080 double cork into double-backside rodeo 900 followed up by a switch double back flip. Needless to say, an insane run that he described later with relief as "really the best that he could do"! This run remained the highest scoring of the entire day.
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Shaun White certainly entertained the crowds during his bid for the crown in the men's superpipe event. Whilst attempting his new trick in practice, the double McTwist 1260, his face smacked against the halfpipe, his neck snapped back and his helmet popped off and flew 15 feet in the air. "I've paid my dues for that trick," White said. "But it's worth it."
Still, it was a frighteningly close call with the Olympics only two weeks away. The 2006 Olympic champion hurt himself on the newest, most unpredictable and most dangerous trick in his repertoire: the Double McTwist 1260, in which he hurtles himself 15-20 feet above the halfpipe, then does two head-over-heels flips and 3 1/2 rotations.
Sometimes he lands and sometimes he doesn't! That's what happened in the final run, when he was still, unbelievably, pushing it - going for the perfect score, something he'll only obtain if he links two easier versions of the jump, then completes the routine with the Double McTwist 1260.
Check Shaun's amazing winning run here:
...and what happened to him in practice:
With a rundown of the slopestyle results here...
1. Jenny Jones
2. Jamie Anderson
3. Janna Meyen-Weatherby
4. Kjesti Oestgaard Buaas
5. Hana Beaman
6. Cheryl Maas
1. Eero Ettala
2. Eric Willett
3. Chas Guldemond
4. Torstein Horgmo
5. Sage Kotsenburg
6. Mikkel Bang
7. Tim Humphreys
8. Halldor Helgason
