Kirsty Muir and Mac Forehand win FIS X Games warm up

With less than a month until the Olympics, this was many riders’ last chance to qualify for a spot on their national teams. Much focus was on the American riders, six of whom made it through to finals, as the results from this contest would decide who fills the last two spots to join Alex Hall and Troy Podmilsak on the US team. 

The course was a three rail, two jump set up giving more weight to steel sliding skills than gymnastic spinning. They always say, “if your resort needs snow, hold a contest” and that is exactly what has happened in Aspen with snow and bad weather delaying the start.

The Women

Being the penultimate World Cup Slopestyle event before the Olympics, the women’s start list was stacked with many favourites. Anni Karava, however, did not take the start on either of her runs, after a potential injury in training—hopefully it is nothing serious and she will be fit for X Games later this month.

Giulia Tanno got proceedings underway eventually with a clean run. She would improve in her second run adding a double cork 1080 on the second jump to finish in fourth place. Giulia is coming back from a long run of unfortunate injuries, so it’s great to see her starting to put runs down consistently—potentially she is peaking at the right time.

Canadian pair Elena Gaskell and Megan Oldham took third and second place respectively with runs that had a couple of small mistakes. Megan missed her grab on her switch 900 which kept her off the top spot of the podium despite a fire rail run including a switch left 270 continuing back 270, finishing with a right foot front 630 off the final rail.

It was Kirsty Muir who took the top spot and carried the momentum into the final few weeks leading up to the big O-Show. Kirsty only needed her first run to secure the win and was honoured with a victory lap having also won qualifications. Her run was heavy, clean and showed the highest level of difficulty throughout the whole course. She started with a left 270 continuing front 270 on the first rail, then a switch left 270 continuing back 270, a right double cork 1080 safety, a left 720 tail, and stomped a mega stylish front 630 on the third and final rail. 

“I was just really stoked with the run I was able to put down today. The conditions in training were really difficult. This morning it was pretty dark and snowy and as soon as it was finals, the actual runs started to clear up which was a bit of a positive. It was nice to see. So yeah, pretty stoked about how it turned out,” she said.

The Men

The tricky morning conditions, and therefore the lack of quality training, meant that the men’s finals were plagued with mistakes. With almost all of the field making small mistakes, from early offs, missed grabs and washed landings, the name of the game was to put down a clean run. 

Young Estonian prodigy, Henry Sildaru, was the first to do so to take an early lead with a run so clean that Mr Sheen would’ve been proud of it. His right foot front swap back swap continuing front 450 was a thing of technical beauty. The 19 year-old would finish just above Ulrik Samnoey to take his first ever World Cup podium.

Off the back of his first World Cup win in Big Air in Beijing, Ulrik put down a clean enough run that had spins in all four take-off directions. He fumbled the grab on his double cork 1440 which limited that section score, meaning he couldn’t rise up the ranks any further than third place. 

It was Mac Forehand who would take the win on home snow, putting him in very strong contention to make one of the final places on the US Olympic team. His run was almost faultless in a day littered with costly mistakes. He started with a back swap transfer continuing 270, then a switch right lip 270 pretzel 450, a right double cork 1620 tail, a switch left double cork 1620 lead Cuban, then a left 270 continuing cork 630 safety on the last rail.

“This one means a lot. We have a big Olympic spot that we’re all battling for now, and the win definitely helps for me. I don’t even know what that means, if I qualified or not, but I was so stressed out.” Mac Forehand said after the finals.

Overall, the men’s finals was a frustrating watch, with such a heavy line up of talent and what seemed to be a pretty fun rail setup, we were hoping for an electric final. In the end, it came down to who could minimise their mistakes. Riders like A Hall, were looking to put together really interesting runs but we were robbed of seeing a full pull.

With X Games just round the corner, as well as the final slopestyle in Laax, this season is starting to reach its climax.