A historic finale to Aspen 2021 as Tatalina and Magnusson take big air golds
Mar 17, 2021·Freeski Park & Pipe
The final freeski competition of the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard and Freeski World Championships went down in style on Tuesday morning, where a heavy collection of the world’s very best boosters went toe-to-toe on the biggest jump in Colorado and Anastasia Tatalina (RSF) and Oliwer Magnusson (SWE) walked away as the new World Champions from the Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover competition.
Tatalina breaks boundaries on her way to big air gold
Tatalina rolled into Aspen 2021 as a relatively unheralded 20 year-old with 16 World Cup starts and no World Cup podiums to her credit. However, a win at the FIS Junior World Championships big air in Cardrona back in 2018 and a handful of top-5 World Cup results to her credit over the past few seasons should have served as a hint of what the young athlete was capable of.
What Tatalina was capable of, it turns out, was making history, as on Tuesday she became the first woman ever to stomp both left side and right side double cork 1260s in the same competition, putting both tricks down with aplomb and authority on her way to earning a two-jump score of 184.50 and an emphatic gold medal win.
“It’s amazing,” Tatlina smiled from the finish area, “I just trained so hard for this one and I finally made it on the competition. I’m so happy. It’s a great result (to be the first Russian Ski Federation athlete to win gold at the Freeski World Championships). Thanks for the Russian Ski Federation, my coaches and my family for their support. It’s amazing.”
Tatalina’s was not only the first Freeski World Championships gold ever won by an athlete representing the Russian Ski Federation, but it was also the RSF’s first medal, period, in any of the halfpipe, slopestyle and big air events.
As it turned out, however, that total would be doubled in just one competition, as Tatalina’s teammate Lana Prusakova would also have the best performance of her career when it mattered most, taking Aspen 2021 silver on the day. 20 years-old just like Tatalina, Prusakova also has the left double cork 1260 mute in her trick arsenal and that, along with a right side 900 tail grab would give her a score of 165.50 - nearly 20 points back of the powerhouse performance of Tatalina, but still good enough for a historic silver.
And just in case there wasn’t quite enough history being made in the women’s competition, Ailing Eileen Gu of China set one more benchmark in a season that has been chock full of them for the 17 year-old, as she earned the bronze medal to become the first freeskier ever to podium in all three competitions at a single World Championships after taking gold in both the halfpipe and slopestyle events. Putting down a left double cork 1080 Japan and a right side double 1260, Gu would earn a score of 161.50 for the bronze.
Magnusson near-flawless from start to finish
Over in the men’s competition we saw a winner without a single international competition victory to his name and two skiers without a single major international podium between them rising to the occasion on the final day of Aspen 2021 action to grab their share of World Championships hardware, with Sweden’s Oliwer Magnusson leading the way.
The youngest member of a standout Swedish team that also includes Henrik Harlaut, Jesper Tjader, and Oscar Wester, Magnusson came in as something of an underdog for a top result in Aspen. However, from the first day of practice, through qualifications, and then on Tuesday’s finals it seemed that the 20 year-old did nothing but land tricks - and big tricks at that.
In finals that meant Magnusson stomped three tricks scoring 87.00 points or higher, with his top two - a left 1800 tail grab and a switch left 1800 tail - earning him scores of 94.25 and 91.00 respectively, for a combined total of 185.25 and the gold medal.
Magnusson stomped his switch left 1800 dropping in as the last skier in the competition after holding the lead through the first two runs. However, just before he was set to go, the power went out from top to bottom of the venue, putting his run on hold for some five minutes. We he did drop, however, he showed no sign of nerves, vaulting over Canada’s Edouard Therriault and into the gold medal position.
“I’m feeling super nice,” Magnusson said, in understated fashion, “My first win on a big competition. I’m super stoked. I was really nervous. We had a hold there and I just wanted to drop and it worked out for me.”
While the super-stylish Therriault would be bumped to second place by Magnusson’s last run, the silver medal was not a bad result for the 18 year-old whose previous best result in World Cup action had been a ninth-place finish at the Kreischberg (AUT) big air earlier this season. Landing a left triple cork 1600 guitar grab, and a left double bio 1800 safety, Therriault’s score of 183.00 points was just 2.25 shy of Magnusson’s mark.
Third place went to Switzerland’s Kim Gubser, for a silver (or, bronze) lining to a day that saw Aspen 2021 slopestyle gold medallist Andri Ragettli assisted out of the finish area after appearing to injure his knee on his third and final jump.
Gubser had been going huge throughout his time in Aspen, with an area most of the way down the slope on the looker’s right of the landing dubbed the “GubserZone” because the 20 year-old just kept setting his tricks down there. Stomping a switch left triple cork 1440 pushed mute and a left triple 1620 mute, Gubser would earn a score of 180.75 for the bronze.
TRICK LISTS
WOMEN:
GOLD - Anastasia Tatalina (RSF): left double 1260 mute, right double 1260 mute
SILVER - Lana Prusakova (RSF) : left double 1260 mute, right 900 tail
BRONZE - Eileen Gu (CHN): left double 1080 Japan, right double 1260
MEN:
GOLD - Oliwer Magnusson (SWE): left double cork 1800 tail, switch left double 1800 tail
Edward Therriault (CAN): left triple 1620 guitar, switch left double bio 1800 safety
Kim Gubser (SUI): switch left triple 1440 push mute, left triple 1620 mute
QUICK LINKS:
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