The sun may have set on this beautiful day at Copper, but the guys weren’t done yet. Streetstyle is already an absurdly high-energy event, but this year’s course, combined with this familiar roster really made it something else. When you take such a mix of competitors, many of them being some of today’s more core urban film skiers, you really end up with one of the most exciting events in all of freestyle skiing.
Our first heat of competitors consisted of Alex Hall, Sam Zahner, Keegan Kilbride, and Daniel Bacher, of which only two can move on to the next round.
Alex put himself at the front of the pack with his second run. His super clean Double transfer up in the first section, followed by a switch lip 270 Back 450 out. This run would score him an 81.33. Sam found himself just on the heels of Alex by also finding his highest score in his second run, grabbing himself a 79. These two would be the ones to continue on
There really is no better event to help highlight the amount of distinct style each of these riders really has, and everyone looks like they feel right at home here on the Streetstyle course. Keegan has this crazy stylish switch tips under 270 on, and he was able to display that so consistently tonight.
Our second heat was made up of Tucker Fitzsimon, Mat Dufresne, Andrew Egan, And Pete Koukov.
Just like Alex and Sam from the previous heat, Tucker would find his highest score in this round on his second run. Starting off with a right 270 on pretz 450 out in the top section, and a big disaster 450 in the bottom section. Andrew showed up big time on his final run in this heat. Out of his bag, he pulled a switch tail 270, continuing 270 out, Left 2 continuing 4, and a crazy switch 270 on backslide 270 out in the bottom section. A well-deserved score to push him on to the next round, 79.66.
And finally, our third heat was made up of Colby Stevenson, Edouard Therriault, Cal Carson, And Calvin Barrett.
Once again, the top two athletes from this round would find their highest scores on their second run. Colby’s scoring run was a big backside 360 switch-up with a transfer right 450 switch pretz 270. This run netted him an 86.66, and would be more than enough to push him through to the next round. Therriaults second run also helped provide a cushion for him in his heat, which would allow him to progress to the next round. In the top section, a switch left 270 on cont 4 out. right 270 cont 2 out, switch nose transfer blind 4 out.
Cal Carson pulled out a crazy 630 off of one of the shorter rails in the top section. A little loose, but still, I don’t think anyone was expecting that. Then on his final run, he threw the 630 again but had it cleaned up so well, and finished it off with a big disaster blind 450 out.
Into the second round, the heats were shuffled around, and the comp was shifted to a head-to-head format. In the first heat, we had Alex Hall going up against Andrew Egan, in the second was Tucker Fitzimons, against Edouard Therriault, and the third heat was Colby Stevenson and Sam Zahner.
Alex’s second run here really solidified a spot for him in the top 3. Nose butter 450 onto the first rail, switch right 270 continuing 270, left backside switch up, and finally his switch 270 on, switch 270 out.
Our Next head-to-head was super comparable after their first runs. Tucker’s run held a left 270 pretz 270, big 450, and an even bigger disaster transfer. Edouard Also put up a super solid run. His 270 on, continuing 450 out, was super clean, and a sweet switch on, transfer to 450 out. Ultimately, Tucker would lay down another solid run, and a small bobble from Edouard would give Tucker the win in this heat.
Edouard did throw out an awesome Rodeo 540 off the wall ride at the bottom, and that would be more than enough to win the Papa John’s “Flip It Award” for the men tonight.
Our final head-to-head was Colby and Sam. Colby’s big switch backslide, and his transfer disaster were only just parts of the clean 2 runs he needed, and sam just couldn’t the runs he needed to keep up.
In the finals, Tucker laid down a super smooth run, maybe not as technical the whole way through, but it would be enough to provide a decent score of an even 80. Alex had a few bobbles on his first run, but he was working with some pretty technical tricks. Colby’s first run in this final round may have very well been his best of the night. Pretzel 450 of the waterfall rail in the to section, blind 360 Switchup on the transfer, Right 450 out. This run earned him a 92.66 Tucker’s second run was too close to changing up the standing. An 89.33 was a fair score for the solid run he put down, but it just wouldn’t be enough. Alex’s final run would also not be enough to bump Colby from the top spot, which would leave Colby with a little victory lap to end the night.
Alex had this to say when asked about how this event stands apart from other comps, and how.
A Hall: I think today for me it was the format I honestly didn’t even know what the format was yesterday when we rolled up today and like I got the whole format so and it was fun to just try and figure it out like, different rounds meant different things, you know, landing one out of three and having to land two out of two, stuff like that. It’s unusual, but it kept it fun, would love to put one down in our last week, but I couldn’t quite get her done so all good
How do you approach a potentially make or break run? Does your thought process shift at all to a different state than it would be if you were in a better position?
A Hall: A little bit like in the first round. I was kind of just trying to land something clean, nothing too crazy. And then that last round, since I knew I was gonna be, you know, either third second, or first I figured, might as well just throw everything I got at it and shoot for the stars didn’t work out but I tried
I got the chance to ask Colby, For an event like Street style, do you change up your method when picking out your lines? I imagine you may feel a little more apt to wing it, or try some completely out-of-pocket in this environment
C Stevenson: I definitely had to do a little bit of improvising, just because I like came off a rail switch instead of forward and then just, yeah, just kind of had a backup plan if that did happen. So you got to think about that stuff when you’re building runs because you’re not always going to land it the way you’re supposed to.
Men’s Ski Super Streetstyle Results
1.) Colby Stevenson, 92.66
2.) Tucker Fitzsimons, 89.33
3.) Alex Hall, 70.00
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