Gasser and Kleveland check out of Aspen with slopestyle wins
Mar 21, 2021·Snowboard Park & Pipe
After the conclusion of the Aspen 2021 FIS Snowboard and Freestyle World Championships on Wednesday, Saturday afternoon saw the action in Aspen (USA) rolling on with the first of this weekend’s back-to-back World Cup competitions taking to the Buttermilk Mountain slopestyle course, where springy conditions and the occasional gusty wind made for some occasionally tough riding, but where Anna Gasser (AUT) and Marcus Kleveland (NOR) rose to the challenge and walked away with impressive wins.
Gasser goes hard in first run for win
While she’s excelled in big air competition over the past several seasons, it’s been a while since Gasser has seen the top of a slopestyle podium, with her last slopestyle victories in both World Cup and X Games competition coming back in the 2016/17 season.
However, after being shut out of the podium in both the slopestyle and big air competitions at the Aspen 2021 World Championships, Gasser clearly came into the World Cup competition on Saturday looking for some redemption, dropping in on a first run in which she attacked the Buttermilk course with gusto.
Gasser started things out in the rails with a switch backside bluntslide 270 out, into a half-cab 50-50 indy out on the tall flat bar, and then a 50-50 backside 360 on the down rail, before heading into the jumps where she stepped things up another notch.
Dropping a double underflip 900 on the first hit, Gasser then put down a cab 900 tail, into a backside double 1080 melon, and while she put a hand down on the dub underflip the other two jumps were clean and stomped, and the judges rewarded her with a score of 81.90 that wouldn’t be touched through the rest of the competition.
“I kind of learned from some mistakes I made at World Champs, where I didn’t really go full-in,” Gasser said, analyzing her day, “Today I came with the mindset that I just wanted to send it, I didn’t want to be fourth place again. It was all-or-nothing kind of and I’m glad it worked out. The wind was a little bit of an issue for me because it was always changing direction - my second run it made me come up short and my third run made me go too big, so I’m so happy my first run worked out.”
The closest anyone would get to Gasser in the women’s final was the USA’s own Hailey Langland, who earned her first World Cup podium since the 2016/17 season helped in no small part by a super-steezy rail section that included a front blunt 270, a frontside lipslide to fakie, and a half-cab on to backside 360 out. Langland would finish with a score of 72.30 and second place.
Third place went to Enni Rukajarvi of Finland, who was bumped to fourth place late in the competition in Aspen 2021 World Champs action, but who was able to hold onto her podium spot in Saturday’s World Cup with super solid run that included backside 900 and a big ol’ cab 720 tail to finish things off.
Kleveland makes it two wins in eight days at Aspen
After his phenomenal gold medal win in the Aspen 2021 World Champs slopestyle competition (as well as a bronze in big air) and his top-spot showing in qualifications, Kleveland came into Saturday’s World Cup as the odds-on favourite for his second victory at Buttermilk in the last eight days, and he did not disappoint.
Kicking things off in his first run with a hardway cab 270 on to 270 off, Kleveland then went backside bluntslide 270 out, to frontside bluntslide 450 out through the rails.
Into the jumps he kicked things into hypermode, dropping a switch backside 1260 melon, into a backside 1620 melon, and then a cab 1620 weddle grab with his own signature flavour on a late double cork - all stomped spotlessly - to earn himself a score of 87.58 and another clear victory.
“It’s been a pleasure being back in Aspen,” Kleveland said to sum up a remarkably successful 10 days of action, “I always feel like Aspen is one of the best places to ride, and I couldn’t be more happy to be going back to Europe with two medals and the World Cup win and a good vibe, for sure. One more comp coming up in Silvaplana and then it’s springtime for me.”
Second place with a score of 82.16 went to the USA’s Red Gerard, as the fourth-place finisher from last week’s slopestyle World Championships competition was able to step it up to the podium on Saturday with his typical brand of casual brilliance, including a switch backside triple cork 1620 on his final hit that was the first he had ever stomped - in competition or otherwise.
Rounding out the men’s podium was none other than Canada’s Mark McMorris, as the recently-crowned big air World Champion finished just fractions of a point behind Kleveland with a score of 81.90 (while McMorris’s teammate Max Parrot finished just fractions back of that mark in fourth with a score of 81.18).
With a switch backside 1260 stalefish, frontside triple cork 1440 weddle, to backside triple 1620 combo though the jumps, McMorris was able to grab his first World Cup slopestyle podium since the 2016/17 season and round out a star-heavy men’s podium.
With two events in the books and just one to go, it’s now Gasser and Kleveland sitting atop both the slopestyle and the Park & Pipe overall standings, with both riders planning on dropping in on the slopestyle World Cup finals in Silvaplana (SUI) next weekend. Meanwhile, action in Aspen continues with halfpipe finals on Sunday.
TRICK LIST
WOMEN:
Anna Gasser (AUT) - switch backside bluntslide 270, half-cab 50-50 to indy out, 50-50 backside 360, frontside double underflip 900 indy, cab 900 nose, backside dub 1080 melon
Hailey Langland (USA) - frontside bluntslide 270 out, frontside lipslide to fakie, half-cab 50-50 to 360 out, frontside 720 melon, backside 540 stalefish, cab 720 melon
Enni Rukajarvi (FIN) - frontside bluntslide 270 over the rainbow, frontside lipslide, backside bluntslide 270, frontside 720 weddle, backside 900 weddle, cab 720 tail
MEN:
Markus Kleveland (NOR) - hardway cab 270 in to 270 out, backside bluntslide 270, frontside bluntslide 450, switch backside 12 maybe melon, backside 16 melon, cab 16 indy
Red Gerard (USA) - back boardslide to front boardslide to switch, half-cab 50-50 backside 360 out, boardslide underflip 450 out, cab 1260 melon, backside 1260 melon, switch back 1620 indy
Mark McMorris (CAN) - hardway cab 270 on to 270 out, frontside 270 to boardslide to regular, front bluntslide 450 out, switch backside 1260 stalefish, frontside triple 14 weddle, backside triple 1620 weddle
QUICK LINKS
Aspen US Grand Prix website (extended quotes and much more)
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