With the sun shining, the vibes flowing, and the sounds of Bob Marley railing him down the pipe, reggae-junkie Candide Thovex was clearly the highest rider in the joint. The 20-year-old Frenchman took his tricks to ridiculous heights in the Winter X Games VII Ski Superpipe finals, smoking the competition to take home the gold.
First place threat C.R. Johnson came out swinging in the qualifiers after a disappointing performance in Slopestyle. His ridiculously huge corked 9 to ally-oop flat spin 5 brought the biggest score of the entire comp, 96.33, and took him into the finals ranked first. But after hitting a styled-out safety grab that looked close to triple overhead in his first finals run, he cased a corked 9 on the lip and slid face-first into the flats earning him a disappointing 40.00. A redeeming corked 900 and huge alley-oop during his final run failed to impress the judges, knocking him out of medal contention.
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| Gold medal winner Candide Thovex gets down with this alley-oop in his final run. |
Reigning ski superpipe Winter X VI gold medallist, Jon Olsson, put his smooth style on display again during the finals. He stomped a huge mute grab, flair tailgrab to flair, corked 9, and an alley-oop flat spin 5. The judges awarded his run an 89.67 - not enough to challenge 20-year old Frenchman Candide Thovex for gold; Jon would have to settle for bronze.
Thovex's first run had insane loft, boosting double over-head on every hit and stoking the crowd. His line of flair, tailgrab, corked 9, tailgrab ally-oop, inverted 720 -- all massive -- netted him a 94.00. His second all-over huge line was the same as his first, but greasing the inverted 720 at the bottom lit up the judges and boosted his score two points higher for a gold medal winning 96.00. A smiling Thovex analyzed his runs with typical ragga laid-back attitude:
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| Posting the highest score of the day in qualifying, C.R. Johnson goes triple overhead with this tail grab. |
"It's a really nice pipe," says Thovex. "We don't have that kind of pipe in France. I was stoked to just ride it. I wasn't there for the competition, I just wanted to ride for me."
Silver medalist Tanner Hall knew he was up against more than a shrug-it-off, 'whatever' performance: "Thovex was quite amazing. He was really, really good. It's cool that I have someone to look up to, someone to inspire me."
Tanner stomped a super clean and stylee alley-oop safety grab, flat spin five, alley-oop flat spin 5 safety grab, and a 900 for 90.33, but missed his opportunity to take gold when he botched his last jaunt down the pipe.
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| Tanner Hall alley-oops in the first run of the finals before taking second place. |
"I wish I had hit my last run," Hall says of his final 48.67 performance (Tanner landed way down in the tranny after a flat spin 5 and had to scrub his last trick). But still, the reigning Slopestyle gold medallist was happy to pocket his second Winter X Games VII medal and the cash that comes with it.
"I'm going to put [the money] away," Hall says. "No actually, I'm going to use it for my new house: new carpets, couches, an elevator, swimming pool, a hot tub coming out of the wall, an indoor basketball court, and a roller coaster to the kitchen so I don't have to walk to the fridge."
Candide, on the other hand, should probably put his loot to more sensible use … like buying himself a superpipe worth smoking at home.
Related Photos:
Skiing SuperPipe Gallery
