The fix is in. Room together, podium together--Ski Slopestyle's sophomore season held true to pattern. Last year,
C.R. Johnson slipped to silver after a dramatic tiebreak finish against his roommate,
Tanner Hall, Winter X Games VI's gold medallist. This year, C.R. failed to even make the finals. It was clear that there would be no repeat of 2002's results. No, this time someone else would step up to share the spotlight with the untouchable Tanner Hall.
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| First place finisher Tanner Hall shows off his low slung style with a cleanly stomped 720. |
But it wouldn't be the other former member of the "Animal House" Truckee (Calif.) roomie clan,
Evan Raps. As he cased the last big money booter of his first finals run and lay still at the bottom of the hill, spitting spoonfuls of blood into the packed snow, podium was obviously out of reach.
It was 20-year-old Pep Fujas, Hall's new bunkmate, who surprised many with his Winter X Games debut. Two solid and stylee runs during the qualifiers bumped him into third place behind favorites Hall and
Jon Olsson. As the ten finalists skied a tight, technical course beneath a clouded sky, the grease was quickly separated from the gravy. This year's slopestyle course was a serious step up in difficulty: flat rail, kinked down rail, the sex change rail (because if you miss it…well), the lead-off kicker, a standard table top, the almighty transfer gap, the Aspen rail, the Titanic rail (if you miss it, you lose all speed and your run is sunk), a set-up table and finally the big money booter for a little bit of showtime. And if the elements weren't enough the lack of visibility sure didn't help. Three of the first round runs ended in massive spills off the final big money booter and wiped both Evan Raps (blew his right ACL) and Chris Booth (blew his left ACL) out of the competition.
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| Pep Fujas, switch onto the tall flat rail on his way to ski slopestyle silver. |
Aspen local
Steele Spence weathered the storm and hit the barely attempted Titanic rail twice (even though he exited a little early the second time). The judges rewarded him for having the cojones to be the only finalist (and one of only two in the comp) to attempt the high-risk rail and bumped him to first place with an 89.67. But it wasn't enough to stop the onslaught of the final three skiers: Fujas, Olsson and Hall.
Fujas stripped the rails up top with a 270 on the flat rail, to gap past the kink on the downrail, then put together a jump line of 540 grab, switch 720 grab, a zero spin (switch to switch over the table), a switch 540 tail grab, and finished by landing a huge switch 720 grab on the big money booter to post a ridiculous competition high of 91.00. But would that score be enough to hold off Freeskiier Mag's Man of the Year, Jon Olsson? Olsson came down off a clean set of rails to throw stylee jump line including a switch 540 grab, a corked 900 grab over the channel gap, another 540 grab, and then finally a switch 1080 grab stomped clean on the last huck. The judges threw him a 90.00 eliciting boos from the crowd, and guaranteeing Winter X Games rookie Fujas at least a silver. But no one would think to disagree about Hall's run.
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| Third and second plalce finishers Jon Olsson and Pep Fujas (from left to right) watching Tanner Hall's Winning run. |
You didn't need to look at the enormous stadium screen to know the results. Tanner came out of a huge, floaty switched cork nine with his arms raised to the sky. Fujas tackled him at the bottom of the run, and the monitors flashed his gold medal score: 93.67. The competition was his from start to finish: a switch on to 270 off the flat rail, a 270 on to 270 off the down rail, a 540 grab, a switch 540 grab, a corked 720, a D-spin 900 tail grab and then the huge switch 900 finale. Lots of style. And lots of motivation. In it's second year of competition Slopestyle once again posted a pair of roommates at one and two. And once again, Tanner Hall came out on top
"I'm psyched I found someone [like Pep]," says Hall. "We feed off each other's energy and push each other."
So, is Pep upset that he narrowly missed the gold to his roommate?
"Whatever," says Fujas. "Silver, gold, it doesn't matter to me. I got to do some tricks off some jumps and I'm going to get money for it."
Plus, it will help pay his half of the rent.
Related Photos:
Ski Slopestyle Gallery
