The Rundown - Aug 13, 2021

It's Friday the 13th, which seems like as good a time as any to return with another Rundown, after we took a bit of a midsummer breather the last few weeks. Regardless of whether we're here or not, however, the river of freestyle and freeski-related content flooding the internets never ceases, and we'll do our best to play a little catchup here with some of our favourites from the past week or so.

This week we wanna kick things off with some pure slushy steeze courtesy of last season's World Cup MVP Colby Stevenson, as he goes buck with the butters in front of Mr. Hotlapsofficial's capable lensmanship*.

*this may or may not be a real word

Sometimes one Hotlapsofficial followcam clip just isn't enough, so here's two to make it true with Birk Irving doing his thing in the Mt. Hood stunt ditch...

And, finally, a little TYW action, because literally name one person who doesn't get stoked every time a little tidbit of Torin hits the airwaves?

So although we just went three in a row of some of the heaviest hitters in freeskiing history, the heaviest single clip we saw this week came from a 13yo Kiwi up-and-comer Liam Richards and this power-up combo fresh from Cardona...

And while we're checking in Cardrona, we thought this photo of Finn Bilous railsliding over mum, shot by dad, was way too sweet not to share. And then on second thought we were like, "Jeez, moms sure trusts Finn's jib skills..."

It's been a beautiful couple of weeks in the world of moguls through the first half of August, with glacier camps and water ramp sessions going off around the globe. There's a whole lotta content we're going to try to hit here so buckle up and lets hit the bumps.

Although, having said that, the first clip we want to take another look at has no bumps involved at all, just French moguls junior team member Thibaud Mouille and this ultimate huck 'n' pray quad backie into the pool...

And while we're at it, here's another one from young Mr. Mouille, no skis necessary. If Thib can translate some of his exceptional entertainment skills into World Cup results, we might be looking at the next French étoile des bosses in the next couple of seasons...

Speaking of moguls stars, there have been few in the history of the sport to shine as brightly as Canada's Jean-Luc Brassard. Earlier this week we took a moment to appreciate the legendary Lillehammer 1994 Olympic gold medallist with this throwback...

From one Canadian great to another Canadian who's the greatest to ever do it, as Mikael Kingsbury has been on site at Mt. Hood and working on a little newness that we might be seeing this upcoming World Cup/Olympic season. Corked 10 tail? Yes please...

Another one from the Hood, as Kai Owens posted a little recap of her time there in July, looking dialed in on the bumps 'n' jumps and...not so dialed on the rope swing...😬

It's the middle of winter Down Under, and Australia's Brodie Summers is making the most of it on a dreamy-looking Toppa's Dream in Perisher...

Time to check in on Switzerland, where the aerials squad is crushing it on the tramps and ramps...

Meanwhile in the Czech Republic, Simon Bartik's been at the the Jumpark getting his reps splashing into Matylda Lake, aka one of the prettiest water ramp spots in the while wide world...

A bit of a bummer story in two parts here now, courtesy of Antoine Adellise, who got back on skis four days ago for some airbag action in Austria...

Only to bust some ribs the very next day and put himself back on the sidelines for a few more weeks...

Hopefully Antoine is fixed up and ready to go in time for the season-opener in Chur, in October.

Wait, did we mention that the season is opening in Chur in October yet? Well, it is. Find out more HERE.

Moving on to some ski cross news now. Not much is happening on snow as far as SX goes, but the athletes around the world have been keeping busy with various speed-related pursuits.

First up is a pretty touching tribute from the Canadian team, as the whole squad got together in Squamish to honour their late teammate Mikayla Martin with a day of mountain biking and memories...

Not only that, the Canadians managed to squeeze in some sweaty start training in the west coast heat while they were at it...

Over to France now, where SX GOAT Jean Fred Chapuis turned the speed dial up to 10 last week, hitting the Circuit Dijon-Pernois with French racing legend Sylvain Pussier. Sounds like JF will have Club des Ambitieux racing as a sponsor next season, which we can only assume will make one of the world's fastest even harder to catch in 2021/22...

One more now from Fanny Smith who, with a little mirror magic, has put the fear into the rest of the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup field as they have been forced to imagine not one, but TWO of the reigning crystal globe winner pulling out of the start gate next season...

Ok, that's it for this week! Here's hoping your Friday the 13th is a safe and fun one, and that the rest of your weekend is exceptonal. Peace and love, as always.