Switch tricks, technical riding, and true street-inspired tricks helped propel Alexis Hernandez-Roland to her second consecutive Dew Tour win, this time on the freshly reimagined Super Streetstyle course to follow up on her December 2021 Streetstyle win.
“Everyone was going hard, so it all went by super fast,” Hernandez-Roland said after the medal ceremony. “I’m having a hard time comprehending the win, much less the back-to-back wins: my brain is really just spinning from the whole thing, but it was a really fun contest with a really fun format and the girls are all so amazing. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of homies to ride with.”
The contest format began with three heats of four riders in Round 1, with two riders advancing from each heat.
In heat 1, Iris Pham and Patti Zhou were the standouts, overcoming Ella Sorensen and Grace Warner. Zhou’s best of three runs included a firecracker-style boardslide down the waterfall rail and a switch boardslide to regular, an impressive showing from the 11-year-old who made the Women’s Superpipe podium in 2nd earlier in the day. Pham had the highest score of Heat 1 for a Run 1 pass featuring a switch boardslide 270, half-Cab 50-50, frontside lipslide, and 50-50 to frontside 360 on the “donkey kick” kink rail at the bottom of the course.
In heat 2, Maria Thomsen and Egan Wint overcame Kait Adams and Kaleah Opal. The top score went to Maria Thomsen for tricks, including a boardslide 270, switch 50-50 on the Jersey barrier step-down, and switch 50-50 to 180 out on the kink rail.
Alexis Hernandez-Roland and Jaylen Hanson advanced out of Heat 3, beating out Madison Blackley and Anne-Sophie Lechon. Hernandez-Roland had the highest run score out of any of the heats, 93.33 for a Run 2 pass featuring a switch frontside boardslide, switch bluntslide same way, half-Cab 50-50, and 50-50 to 360 out on the kink rail. Judges also lauded Hanson for her frontside boardslide pretzel on the first feature in Run 2, which ended up taking the Papa John’s Flip It award and $2,500 price for the best trick of the night.
Round 2 pitted the top two riders from each heat against each other.
Egan Wint beat out Iris Pham for the Heat 1 battle with a frontside boardslide, gap to nosepress on the Jersey barrier step-down, boardslide gap transfer to 50-50, and frontside boardslide.
Maria Thomsen beat out Jaylen Hanson for the Heat 2 battle with a frontside bluntslide 270, backside boardslide 270, frontside lipslide on the Jersey barriers, and a backside 50-50
Alexis Hernandez-Roland beat out Patti Zhou for the Heat 3 battle with the judges’ favorite run from Round 2: Switch frontside boardslide, switch boardslide 270, half-Cab 50-50, and frontside boardslide.
That sent three riders, one from each heat, to the three-person Final for a best-of-two-runs showdown.
Hernandez-Roland came out on top, with the switch frontside boardslide that had become her signature by the Final, followed by a gap to bluntslide 270, half-Cab 50-50, and 50-50 to 180 out on the kink rail.
“I was raised by my dad, a snowboarder and really good dad who was always putting emphasis on being able to do tricks every single way, so whenever I get the opportunity, I like to do switch tricks, just to show that I can,” she said. “Sean Hernandez-Roland, my dad: I love you!”
Wint took 2nd, with a frontside boardslide, nosepress on the Jersey barriers, 50-50 gap to 50-50, and polejam to boardslide on the big wallride feature that most of the women were steering clear of.
“I grew up in Denver, so it was awesome to have some friends and family here,” Wint said. “It’s really unexpected to be on the podium, but it’s a good feeling to see the hard work pay off and to get to see all my friends perform their best. I was having a lot of fun on the wall and on the barriers and really enjoying watching everyone else’s approach to each feature during the contest.”
Thomsen, who had a knee injury in practice the day before, said she saw a doctor and a chiropractor, got some painkillers, and taped up her knee but was never feeling 100 percent. It was showing by the Final, when she came off early from a trick in Run 1 and lost speed for the final feature in Run 2. Run 1 was her best: Frontside bluntslide 270, boardslide, frontside lipslide on the Jersey barriers, and backside 50-50 on the kink rail.
“I really liked the head-to-head battle format: I’ve never done that and it was really fun and really challenging,” Thomsen said. “It’s always fun to see everyone out riding so well and to mix it up with different kinds of contests.”
Women’s Snowboard Super Streetstyle Results
1.) Alexis Hernandez-Roland, 82.33
2.) Egan Wint, 75.66
3.) Maria Thomsen, 60.00
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