Andreas Haatveit Wins X-Games Slopestyle SilverThe 23-year-old of the ATOMIC Freeski Team held off everyone beside Bobby
Brown
In a tremendous Slopestyle competition that was decided at the very last jump, Andreas Haatveit completed his collection of X Games medals with silver. The 23-year-old of the ATOMIC Freeski Team held off everyone beside Bobby Brown, the new dominator of Aspen's air space.
Slopestyle is seen by many as the ultimate freestyle discipline, as it requires the greatest variety of skills. When the freeski crowd gathered in Aspen for the 14th Winter X Games, Andreas Haatveit was the natural favourite in the Slopestyle discipline.
The Norwegian had won gold at the X Games in Slopestyle 2008 as well as bronze a year earlier in the Best Trick category. Last year he had placed fourth at the X Games Slopestyle right after coming back from an injury and this season he had been dominating the competition scene so far.
The Slopestyle course at this year's X Games was pretty tight and boasted a big rail section at the top, putting great emphasis on the athletes' jib skills. It was everything but easy to ski as the performances of such freestyle heroes as Tom Wallisch and Jossi Wells proved. Both didn't manage to complete a clean run in the finals and only finished eighth and seventh respectively.
For Andreas Haatveit, however, the course looked perfect. He won the qualification with great consistency in all his runs and also took the lead in the first round of the finals with what looked to be a “safe run” for him.
People started to wonder who would be able to challenge the Norwegian. It was Bobby Brown! The American who had won the Big Air just the night before with a perfect score put down a more than solid performance in the rail section and took his unsurpassed air prowess to the kicker line.
In the second round he took the lead and even bettered his score with his final run consisting of 450° Off and Switch 450° On at the rails, Handplant Cork 720° on the Hitching Box, 810° Off at the Cannon Box and a combination of Switch Rightside Misty 900°, Double Cork 1260° and Switch Double Misty 1260° on the kicker line. Now it was Andreas Haatveit's turn.
In his second run the Norwegian skidded slightly at a landing, the first missed landing in all his runs at this year's X. So the pressure was on for the final round, where Andreas had the last run of the competition. 450° Off and 450° On 450° Off at the rails, Handplant Cork 360° on the Hitching Box and his trademark Misty 450° Off at the Rainbow Rail were immaculate. Switch Rightside 1080° and Switch 1260° on the first two kickers looked good, too. But then he was a little slow for his final Double Cork 1080°. The landing was a little shaky and the score a little low for first place.
Thus Bobby Brown took his second gold medal in one year, a feat never achieved before by any skier in X-Games history. Andreas Haatveit finished second in front of American Sammy Carlson in third. But the Norwegian was still happy with his result:
“I think I skied well today and had a great time. I just was a little too slow at the last jump which might have costed the victory. But I still got a medal, and it's the one I was missing. So for what more could I ask?“ Not much, really!
Check out how the snowboarders did where Jenny Jones took her second gold medal!
Posted by Online Editor - Tue, 02/02/2010 - 10:20am
The 23-year-old of the ATOMIC Freeski Team held off everyone beside Bobby
Brown
In a tremendous Slopestyle competition that was decided at the very last jump, Andreas Haatveit completed his collection of X Games medals with silver. The 23-year-old of the ATOMIC Freeski Team held off everyone beside Bobby Brown, the new dominator of Aspen's air space.
Slopestyle is seen by many as the ultimate freestyle discipline, as it requires the greatest variety of skills. When the freeski crowd gathered in Aspen for the 14th Winter X Games, Andreas Haatveit was the natural favourite in the Slopestyle discipline.
The Norwegian had won gold at the X Games in Slopestyle 2008 as well as bronze a year earlier in the Best Trick category. Last year he had placed fourth at the X Games Slopestyle right after coming back from an injury and this season he had been dominating the competition scene so far.
The Slopestyle course at this year's X Games was pretty tight and boasted a big rail section at the top, putting great emphasis on the athletes' jib skills. It was everything but easy to ski as the performances of such freestyle heroes as Tom Wallisch and Jossi Wells proved. Both didn't manage to complete a clean run in the finals and only finished eighth and seventh respectively.
For Andreas Haatveit, however, the course looked perfect. He won the qualification with great consistency in all his runs and also took the lead in the first round of the finals with what looked to be a “safe run” for him.
People started to wonder who would be able to challenge the Norwegian. It was Bobby Brown! The American who had won the Big Air just the night before with a perfect score put down a more than solid performance in the rail section and took his unsurpassed air prowess to the kicker line.
In the second round he took the lead and even bettered his score with his final run consisting of 450° Off and Switch 450° On at the rails, Handplant Cork 720° on the Hitching Box, 810° Off at the Cannon Box and a combination of Switch Rightside Misty 900°, Double Cork 1260° and Switch Double Misty 1260° on the kicker line. Now it was Andreas Haatveit's turn.
In his second run the Norwegian skidded slightly at a landing, the first missed landing in all his runs at this year's X. So the pressure was on for the final round, where Andreas had the last run of the competition. 450° Off and 450° On 450° Off at the rails, Handplant Cork 360° on the Hitching Box and his trademark Misty 450° Off at the Rainbow Rail were immaculate. Switch Rightside 1080° and Switch 1260° on the first two kickers looked good, too. But then he was a little slow for his final Double Cork 1080°. The landing was a little shaky and the score a little low for first place.
Thus Bobby Brown took his second gold medal in one year, a feat never achieved before by any skier in X-Games history. Andreas Haatveit finished second in front of American Sammy Carlson in third. But the Norwegian was still happy with his result:
“I think I skied well today and had a great time. I just was a little too slow at the last jump which might have costed the victory. But I still got a medal, and it's the one I was missing. So for what more could I ask?“ Not much, really!