Aspen – A soft, snow-covered superpipe Sunday at the Winter X Games kept even the world’s best snowboarders on their toes – and their tushes – as qualifying for the men’s snowboard superpipe set the stage for a pre-Olympic showdown.
U.S. Olympic team rider Mason Aguirre of Duluth, Minn., used a frontside 1080 to backside 900 combo to score 89.33 points and qualify first among the 10 riders advancing to tonight’s finals.
Following Aguirre with an 87.00 was Louie Vito of Bellefontaine, Ohio, who laid down back-to-back 1080s to secure his spot tonight. U.S. Olympic rider Shaun White of Carlsbad, Calif., needed two runs and back-to- back 900s followed by a Cab 1080 to qualify third with 86.66.
White, the 2004 superpipe gold medalist, kept things interesting with an uncharacteristic fall in his first of two qualifying runs. After catching the tip of his snowboard on a rut in the pipe, White scrubbed too much speed to land his attempt at a 1080.
“I don’t know what happened,” White said after the run. “I hit a big hole in the wall.”
White pulled it together for his final attempt, setting up a showdown with 2005 X Games gold medalist and reigning superpipe world champion Antti Autti of Finland, who also struggled on his first run. Autti used a 1080 into a Cab 720 on his first hits of his final run through the pipe to score 83.00, good enough for the sixth seed in the medal round.
Other notable riders qualifying for tonight’s competition include 2002 Olympic silver medalist Danny Kass of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., who qualified fourth with 86.33, and bronze medalist JJ Thomas of Golden, who was fifth with 85.00.Newly named 2006 Olympian Andy Finch of Fresno, Calif., dropped out of competition after injuring his right foot when he crashed in training Friday. Marc Frank Montoya of Denver also was scratched after injuring his knee in competition in Vail two weeks ago.
Lights, camera, awards!
Powder magazine lured the biggest names in the ski world to Aspen for its annual readers’ poll ski video awards ceremony at the tony Hotel Jerome. The annual soiree taps skiers and video-makers in 10 categories, including best film, best airs, best breakthrough performer and worst slams.
Poor Boyz Productions’ 2005 feature “War” ended a five-year slump for the California film company with its first win for movie of the year. Poor Boyz, founded and run by Johnny De- Cesare, has been nominated for Powder’s movie of the year for five years in a row.
Ingrid Backstrom added a second powder award to her quiver with best female performance. Last year the 27-year-old won as the best breakthrough performer. This year’s best breakthrough performer was Dana Flahr, the out-of-nowhere Canadian ripper who last year ditched his Whistler ski bum status to become Teton Gravity Research’s burliest skier.
Montana bad boy jib skier Tanner Hall took home two awards for best male performance and worst slam. The slam video, from Hall’s new film “Pop Yer Bottlez,” shows the 22-year-old icon crushing into a landing zone after coming up short on a 90-foot gap jump in Utah’s backcountry.
“I feel a little weird accepting an award for the worst wreck of my life,” he said as he gathered his trophy.
Amazing comeback
No skier among the heaviest- hitting snow athletes in Aspen this week has been more warmly embraced than C.R. Johnson.
In early December the 22- year-old ski champion (with a heavy collection of X Games medals) was struck by airborne skier Kye Petersen while he was filming a series of skiers jumping off a cliff in tight formation at Utah’s Brighton ski area.
Even though Johnson was wearing a helmet, he suffered a traumatic brain injury, leaving him in a coma for several days. Less than two months later, Johnson doled out trophies at Saturday’s Powder Magazine video awards and medals for the men’s slopestyle contest Sunday at the X Games.
