Well the fans said they wanted more X-Games and that is exactly what they are going to get. This week continues the global X-Games with a return to Val Claret in Tignes, France, where a perfect pipe and slopestyle course are about to see some serious action. Not only is this an added stop of X-Games, but it also doubles as a platinum event on the Association of Freeskiing Professionals’ World Tour and a 6-Star event on the World Snowboard Tour, and will serve as a de facto preview of the state of freeskiing and snowboarding hurtling towards the Olympic debut of X-Games staples Ski Halfpipe and Ski and Snowboard Slopestyle at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Women’s Ski Slopestyle
Canada’s Kaya Turski is just a beast on slopestyle. She has to be the favorite going into the competition. Her teammate Dara Howell also has made a case to be seen on the podium. However, when seventeen year-old Norwegian skier Tiril Sjåstad Christiansen came away with gold at X-Games Aspen, she kind of got us all thinking and reminded us that the slopestyle competition is getting deeper in the talent pool. It is no longer a North American speciality, but has become increasingly international. This also means that the debut of freeskiing should be absolutely awesome in Sochi.
Tignes has some pretty big jumps, larger than most of the jumps used in competitions throughout the season. Expect all of the ladies to come out and throw their best tricks
Christiansen is the current overall leader on the Association of Freeskiing Professionals’ World Tour (and is just behind Howell in the slopestyle world rankings) and will be the woman to beat as X Games Tignes kicks off. But be sure not to count out Turski. I mean, she is the most dominant athlete in women’s slopestyle and is also fresh off a win at the FIS Freestyle World Championships earlier this month.
Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle
Jamie Anderson beat out Czech rider Sarka Pancochova, the 2013 TTR World Snowboard Tour slopestyle champion, and Canadian rider Spencer O’Brien for the win in Aspen. She also happens to be the only American competing in the event in Tignes, where she’ll also be up against Pancachova, O’Brien, British rider Aimee Fuller, Czech rider Sina Candrian, Finnish rider Enni Rukajärvi and Norwegian riders Silje Norendal and Kjersti Oestgaard Buaas.
Will French fans see the first double corks in women’s competition? Every competitor we talked to says they’ve been working on them in preparation for next year’s Winter Olympics.
Women’s Ski Pipe
Watch for a rematch between Aspen gold medalist Maddie Bowman and silver medalist Roz Groenewoud to close out X Games Tignes; they’re also ranked one and two, respectively, on the AFP World Tour, and have been battling it out all season.
Bowman’s the favorite in a season that has also included wins at both U.S. Grand Prix events. The locals will be rooting for French skier Anais Caradeux, who currently ranked third on the AFP World Tour.
Women’s Snowboard Pipe
This will probably be one of the closer competitions of the week. No doubt about it: Kelly Clark is killing it this season (like she always does) and comes to Tignes fresh off the momentum of winning gold in Aspen and claiming a record-shattering 61st career halfpipe win earlier this month at the Burton U.S. Open, where she was working on a new Cab 1080 that could be another game-changer. But she’s no longer unbeatable, either. Just ask Arielle Gold, Torah Bright and Kaitlyn Farrington, who’ve all caught the view off of the top of the podium, or Spanish rider Queralt Castellet, who launched a frontside 1080 to win the Burton European Open in 2012 and put an end to Clark’s 13-win streak.
X Games Tignes could shape up to be a rematch of the showdown between Clark and Elena Hight in Aspen, where Hight brought the alley-oop double rodeo, the first double cork ever landed in women’s pipe competition, but still had to settle for silver. Redemption time?
Men’s Ski Slopestyle
Nick Goepper from Lawrenceburg, Ind., not exactly a freeskiing hotbed, but he has been on fire this season. He won gold in Aspen, won the Austrian Freeski Open last month, finished third at the FIS World Championships, and is currently ranked second on the AFP World Tour, behind Great Britain’s James “Woodsy” Woods, the X-Games Aspen bronze medalist.
And even just through qualifying, it has already proven to be one of the most unpredictable events.
Three of the top medal contenders in Men’s Ski Slopestyle failed to qualify for the final round as snow conditions deteriorated, making it difficult for them to improve poor first-run scores
X Games Aspen 2013 podium finishers Nick Goepper, Henrik Harlaut, and James Woods failed to advance to the finals in France. Goepper, the gold medalist in Aspen, lost a ski in his first run in mid air on the second kicker. He landed the jump on one ski. On his second run, he crashed on the last jump, and failed to improve his score. Harlaut and Woods, silver and bronze medalists in Aspen, both stumbled in their two runs, failing to advance.
The eight skiers who will compete in Thursday’s Men’s Ski Slopestyle finals are Jossi Wells, Russ Henshaw, Gus Kenworthy, Tom Wallisch, Noah Morrison, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, McRae Williams and PK Hunder.
Expect some big things from the top qualifier Jossi Wells. And lets hope the weather cooperates for the rest of the week!
Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle
2013 World Snowboard Tour champion Mark McMorris comes to Tignes as the reigning king of slopestyle and fresh off a nearly perfect score of 98.00 in Aspen, the highest-scoring slopestyle run in X Games history.
And while he will definitely be expected to win gold, he could still experience some stiff competition. Challengers will include X Games Aspen silver medalist Maxence Parrot and bronze medalist Seppe Smits, U.S. Grand Prix winner Chas Guldemond and Peetu Piiroinen, the 2013 TTR World Snowboard Tour overall champion.
And if the Men’s Ski Slopestyle competition has proven anything, it is that this course is awesome and the weather could play a huge role in how this podium shapes up.
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Men’s Ski Pipe
French skiers Kevin Rolland, Thomas Krief, and Joffrey Pollet-Villard will have home-field advantage in the pipe in Tignes, where they’ll aim to topple the podium over on the Americans — David Wise, Torin Yater-Wallace and Simon Dumont — who swept X-Games in Aspen. They’ll need all the advantage they can get to top Wise, who won the U.S. Grand Prix in Park City, Utah, in January — a FIS World Cup event and Olympic qualifier — then grabbed gold at X Games Aspen and won the FIS World Championships earlier this month in Oslo, Norway.
Wise is the current leader in the AFP Men’s Halfpipe World Ranking by a long shot, but French fans will have plenty to cheer for, especially when Rolland drops in. He missed X Games Tignes in 2012 with a torn ACL after winning in each of the three previous years. He just missed the podium in Aspen, one point behind Dumont, and will be the locals’ favorite. Krief, who won bronze at the FIS Worlds, will be a podium threat, as will Pollet-Villard; he failed to put a full run together at Worlds but did manage to set a record for the highest-scoring single hit air.
Men’s Snowboard Pipe
The field will be wide open, with X-Games Aspen gold medalist Shaun White sitting this one out to focus on training for next year’s Winter Olympic qualifiers, and silver medalist Ayumu Hirano, the 2013 WST halfpipe champion, stuck at home in Japan with the flu. French rider Aluan Ricciardi, sure to be a locals’ favorite in Tignes, is in as Hirano’s alternate.
Finnish rider Markus Malin won bronze in Aspen and will be a podium threat in Tignes, as will any number of other riders, including Americans Scotty Lago, Louie Vito, Luke Mitrani and Benji Farrow; Swiss rider Christian Haller; and Japanese rider Taku Hiraoka, all of whom finished in the top 10 in this year’s WST rankings.
Probably the odds on favorite has to be Swiss rider Iouri “I-Pod” Podladtchikov. Due to illness, we did not get to see him challenge White and Hirano for the top of the podium in Aspen. But whenever he straps on his board, he is always considered one of the favorites. He is also rumored to debut his new YOLO Flip (rumored to be a frontside double cork 1440 variation) which could easily put him on top of the podium this week. I-Pod won The Arctic Challenge in Oslo, Norway, earlier this month, closing out the 2012-13 World Snowboard Tour season halfpipe rankings in second place, and aims to carry that momentum to a win in Tignes, the first 6Star event on the 2013-14 WST calendar.
