We were the only losers (well, and most of the riders that didn’t end up on the podium but they are all still very talented). Once again, our predictions did not come true. Maddie Mastro came in clutch on her last run of the day to take the top spot on the podium in women’s pipe and on the men’s street style, Liam Brearley dominated from the first to last drop. We are about as accurate as a local weatherman giving a weekend forecast. Good thing they all still have jobs, it gives us hope.
Plenty of drama on day two up on Copper. Mitsuki Ono looked like she had a chance at Dew Tour gold until Maddie Mastro put down her famous double crippler on the last hit of the last run of her halfpipe season. We said it was hers to lose, and she came through in the Chloe-less contest with a massive run to add another gold to her resume! Jiayu Liu rounded out the podium with a third-place finish but the rest of the riders will have to wait until tomorrow for another shot at a medal in the Highest Air and Best Trick jam. The contest was a solid showing overall with the women putting down a ton of makes to the delight of the crowd. And once again, we will mention that the stream was pretty solid from watching on the couch. No glitches, entertaining commentary from Todd Richards and cohost JJ Thomas, and another year of entertaining soundbites from the future face of snowboarding, Patti Zhou.
As the temp dropped and lights turned on, the men’s streetstyle final went off and once again, so did our predictions. Our predicted favorite to win the whole thing overall didn’t make it out of the first round (Brandon Davis) and neither did our underdog (Sam Klein). Notably, the reigning champ Nate Haust didn’t make it out of the first round either, a testament to the talent pulled in this year for the 20th anniversary of the contest. Just to get it out of the way, Sam Taxwood was underscored. He wore a hockey helmet, had a solid line, and frankly got hosed. But that’s what makes these contests exciting along with the talent inside the fences. Liam Brearley 270’d onto just about every single thing in sight. Darcy Sharpe got revenge on his last year performance cruising his way to finals and Luke Winkelmann added to his resume of confusing everyone if he is a contest or street rider. Benny Milam had a highlight transfer early in the night, Joey and Pat Fava continued there rail jam success (just not all the way to to the podium), and Nik Baden put Colorado on his back for a few runs putting down some massive transfers on course. When it came to finals, Liam Brearley, Luke Winkelmann, and Darcy Sharpe started in that order, and ended in that order as well. You can see all the tricks that went down, but shockingly there wasn’t a 450 on the podium (or a Fava brother).
All we have left is a day of pipe. Men’s final goes down tomorrow along with a legacy 20th anniversary jam and the best trick/highest air contest. We will be right here on our couch watching it with you.
