The day we've all been waiting for. The Big Air final was on Sunday here at Mount Snow, Vt. and just like I called it, Jussi Oksanen took home the gold.

Going into the competition, it was clear there wouldn't be any big surprises as far as new jumps go. People were pulling switch backside 720s. It seemed like all the Euros were doing backside 720s. I saw Kevin do his usual frontside 900. Jason Brown did some weird stuff. That kid kind of does his own thing. Todd Richards did 900s all morning. He also went for a switch backside 720 and got it. But for the most part it was the same stuff.

Jussi Oksanen got a 90.00 on his final run to secure the gold medal.

Once competition started, it was all business. Jussi Oksanen's switch backside 900 was definitely the best trick of the contest and deserving of first place. Todd Richards got second place with his cab 900s. He hit three of them.

Josh Dirksen's one-footed back flip was one of the dopest tricks of the day. I'm over the stagnant Big Air scene with cab 900s, backside 720s, etc. I see that every year. I like to see new stuff. Dirksen's trick didn't get judged too high but it was very cool. He also did a backside 900. It's a trick I can't do so I have to respect him for that. He ended up taking the bronze.

Kevin Jones started out with a frontside 900, typical frontside Jones as people like to call it. At the end, Jones tried to pull of some different stuff like a backside 900 but he didn't quite get the landing and went home with fifth place.

A large, and cold, crowd turned out for the Men's Big Air Finals.

Overall there weren't very many spectacular tricks to come out of this year's Big Air competition. The riders weren't very amped. Oh well, maybe next year. The jump was just too small and people were having difficulty pulling off the really hard maneuvers. I think Big Air has become pretty stagnant with only having one jump. They need to have a quarterpipe or something afterwards to have this whole contest still be interesting for everyone in the future.

Overall, good job Jussi - Big Air champion, good job Kevin Jones - Slopestyle champion, and good job Danny Kass - SuperPipe champion. For the girls, Shannon Dunn, Jaime MacLeod and Line Oestvold, great job.

We'll see you next year at the Winter X Games.

Peter Line

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