Spencer’s backside 900, notice the commentary
“I think the reason it’s been so long since anyone’s tried one is because progression is never rewarded by the judges and they are holding our sport back,” O’Brien continues. “Congrats to Silje, Jamie and Christy and all the other ladies as well, it’s a honour to ride with them.”
“All the riding was amazing,” says Tara Dakides, the first woman to stomp a backside 900 off a jump in Mt. Hood, Oregon the summer of 2004 — a trick and photo that landed Tara the January 2005 cover of now deceased SG magazine. “I was disappointed that Spencer O’Brien didn’t get rewarded a higher score for her 9,” Dakides adds. “I think that hurts the incentive for progression of the sport. It was awesome to see the girls pushing it though.”
Spencer’s fourth place run consisted of a backside boardslide, wallride, gap-to-lipside pretzel on the middle rail, to a cab 720 [tapped the board, missed grab], to switch back five, into the fully grabbed backside 900 last hit. X Games head judge Tom Zikas said, “Her rails weren’t on point, a few grabs were missed, though we loved the 9,” when commentator Craig McMorris asked him about the decision for O’Brien’s second run score. “It is the whole course, it’s not a big air it’s a slopestyle,” Zikas added.
Controversial results are nothing new to snowboarding contests, but let’s hope at the end of the day X Games remembers it’s a snowboarding contest, not a scripted drama, and when the story is told, please remember the history of the 900 in women’s slopestyle snowboarding.
Watch the women’s top 4 X Games slopestyle runs:
