The final day of Winter Dew Tour 2024 was a success! Blue skies, huge tricks, and we predicted the winner correctly! Ayumu Hirano put down three triple corks and clean runs on the day to narrowly ride away with the top spot over Yuto Totsuka and the rest of the field. Although Yuto taking first place momentarily before Ayumu’s last drop added some drama to the contest, the big story on the day was the Japan-sweep busting American, Lucas Foster. Foster has been slowly ascending into the ranks the past few seasons, and landing an NBD in competition at the Dew Tour finally put him up on a major podium. The Alley-Oop Double McTwist seen round the world has been a trick we have seen him land on Instagram and a few other places but never during a finals run. IT WAS HUGE! Todd Richards and the announcing booth lept out of their seats when he landed it. We won’t say it because we aren’t pro halfpipe riders, but JJ Thomas and Todd Richards claimed it might be harder to do than the triple cork that was put down by Ayumu. And it is stylish as hell! Two huge laid out flips with no room for error. Huge congrats to Lucas on the day, as well as Ayumu and Yuto ( it was no small feat for either of them to put down their highly technical, massive air-filled runs no matter how easy they make it look).

And now to our complaints. DON’T COMBINE SKI AND SNOWBOARD JAMS IN THE HALFPIPE. We don’t care about skiing. No hate, glad they are out there doing their thing and making a living and stoking people out, but it kind of takes the wind out of a jam when you have to scrub through a different sport while you are hoping to see the most stylish tricks of the weekend and some legacy riders do their thing. The announcers praised the big air jam which we are guessing they are paid to do… but just have two separate! Maybe it was a timing thing since there was weather on Friday causing some movement in the morning schedule today and squeezing in an extra event, but combining skiing and snowboarding in the same contest and not making that clear on the billing is whack. They don’t combine basketball and hockey? So why combine skiing and snowboarding? Once again, just like our predictions, you don’t have to take our word on it, it is just our opinion. And for the record, it would be hard for anything to follow up that pipe contest where Ayumu, Yuto, and Lucas went absolutely psycho under the sun fifteen minutes before. If you don’t believe us, watch the full thing below for yourself.

This is also our first time covering the Dew Tour from our couch instead of on snow with everyone. Just like X Games this year, it is a fun switch up from normal. We get to judge the stream, actually hear the announcing (which is hard to do when you are on the course), and we don’t have to use porta-potties at the bottom of the halfpipe! Recapping an event is much easier when you see the whole thing instead of just perching up on a jump shooting photos and trying to catch the whole run via word of mouth and recaps on the jumbo tron. We will be splitting up for the next main event. The Natural Selection window starts tomorrow. We have T. Bird reporting on site and at the venue, while we get to enjoy the whole thing just like the rest of you online. Cheers!