Women Upset about Truncated Slopestyle Final

"I'm pissed," says Jonnel Janewicz, her face clearly upset. Huge flakes tumble down around her, hiding raw emotion and covering the remnants of the Winter X Games VII women's Slopestyle final. What began as a promising gray day with solid runs by Janna Meyen, Hana Beaman and Lindsey Jacobellis quickly turned to mush as the contest fell under a blanket of snow, and all hope of a fair contest for the last event of the X Games were snuffed out.

The snow couldn't keep Janna down. Here she is in the first and only round earning her gold.

The women's Slopestyle contest was, unfortunately, decided by a single run. First, the qualifying round was canceled because the men's comp ran late. Then the newly scheduled two-run final was cut short by the weather. Janewicz, after scoring just 40.33 points on her first run, was counting on another trip down the hill. "We should all be invited back next year," she says. "Or have a make-up day. Or split the purse. Tara Dakides never would have won the gold last year if she didn't have a second run."

Second round was a no go - too much snow and the course was too slow.

Other riders shared her opinion, though it was hard to deny that conditions were terrible: two inches of snow had turned the course to mush and cut visibility to zero. Officials called a halt to the contest after one run, but the riders protested. After what Beaman called a "long fight with organizers," the riders were allowed to take another run. By this time, the course was even more difficult, and none of the riders took a second run. The contest was officially over.

"I'm pissed," says Hana Beaman, who was lucky enough to pull in a second-place 87.33 run with a lean grab frontside 360 followed by a backside 360 before the weather went downhill. "This was a horrible contest. I'm stoked about the silver, but I feel like a jackass because I got a good run before the weather went bad. They all know it's not my fault, but I still feel bad."

And the winners are ... (from left to right) Hana Beaman (Silver), Janna Meyen (Gold), Lindsey Jacobellis (Bronze).

The few comp highlights were hard to acknowledge considering the circumstances. Lindsey Jacobellis jumped the transfer gap and stomped a backside 360 for 82.33 points, enough for bronze. Janna Meyen, '02 silver medallist, stomped a backside 360 with an indy grab and a backside 360 off the big money booter for 92.00 points and the gold.

"The women always get the shaft," says Beaman. "The attitude is: 'who cares, it's just the girls.' But we deal with it, and it makes us tougher."