Day 4

Slopestyle

Riders throw down hard, as Verbier Ride delivers a fantastic slopestyle contest:

Competitors woke up to blue skies and even more fresh snow for today's slopestyle in the La Chaux terrain park. This may be great for powder riding (and a few snow-covered helmets suggested some riders may have sneaked off to shred a few turns before the event got underway), but it meant a frantic couple of hours for the Verbier Ride team as they cleared the excess snow from the exciting course.

Once the park was ready to go, the riders let rip. During the morning's training runs, the crowd saw a selection of leading international riders, such as Nick Draxl, Ben 'Skinner' Murphy and Glenn Parsons, throwing big corked sevens and nines, unnatural switch spins and huge rail slides. As top action-sports cameraman, Guido Perrini, filming for YOZ Eurosport commented "the guys are on fire - we're are getting some awesome footage!"

The judges were also impressed. Jason Schutt explained why: "the course has a great combination of airs and rails. The TeleVerbier park shapers have done a great job. It allows the riders to really show off their creativity".

But it was not an easy ride for anyone in the park. Jamie Strachan, commentating again for the Verbier Ride, summed it up: "It's a pretty technical course, especially the mix of boxes and rails".

The weather also proved challenging, with rising fog frequently obscuring the judges' view and delaying proceedings. This didn't seem to faze the riders though - as Nick Southwell made clear, "What was great was the camaraderie on the hill. Nobody was whingeing about conditions. They were just out there making the best of it and having fun with their mates."

Results:

Due to the unpredictability of the weather, the competition proper had to be restricted to one judged run. This played into the hands of the more consistent riders and as Jason Schutt said "if there had been two runs, results may have been very different."

Still no one could argue with the overall winner. Greg Tuscner's run was incredible. He combined super-technical tricks, such as unnatural spins, a switch 360 safety and a 270 disaster rail-slide, with his signature smooth style. The judges summed it up thus: "Good use of all modules - a little bit of everything". Jamie Strachan summed it up as "Awesome!" The spectators agreed and Greg was a popular winner on the day.

Still, Andy Sean Vernon Bennett rode him a very close second. His huge Zero Spin, switch three and corked seven safety scored high on technical merit, but a hand down on landing and overuse of the safety grab cost him on the style marks.

Last year's winner, Ben 'Skinner' Murphy came in third. The trick he invented, his switch 'kangaroo' flip (a half-cab to front flip) amped up the crowd and earned huge technical points. In the end though, today his style score just couldn't match up to Greg or Andy.

Event Director, Warren Smith, was particularly pleased with the British contingent. "It is so good to see so many young British riders really coming through on the international stage now. Riders like Andy Sean Vernon Bennett, Mike Wakefield, Milo de Glanville and Nick Southwell are up there with the very best." Jamie Strachan, the founding father of British new-school, was almost nostalgic: "It makes what I was trying to do on the circuit all those years ago feel really worth it, watching these up-and-coming British athletes becoming genuinely competitive at a world level."

And it wasn't just the British boys that pushed it hard. The Brit girls were out in force too. They dominated proceedings in the park and rode off with a UK one-two. Emma Lonsdale took the title with an impressively smooth run. She just managed to hold of the challenge of compatriot Sarah Musson, who took a deserved silver medal.

In summary...

The Slopestyle once again proved to be a great way to round off the Verbier Ride. It was left to competitor Glenn Parsons to sum up the day: "It was just a very chilled, enjoyable and successful slopestyle. It's great to see Verbier delivering such a high standard of competition. I'll be back again next year for sure."

Congratulations to the Verbier Ride Crew, TeleVerbier and the riders for laying on such a top event!

© Phil Martin Writer, Freeskier, Wintersports Media Consultant email: philmartin@skijournalism.com mob:+44 7800 912369 Phil Martin recommends:
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