Well, our prediction was wrong from the very first heat… sort of? Our favorite to win the whole thing was knocked out by one of our underdogs and that was just the start. But it was a solid showing on International Women’s Day for (we say it every year) probably the best women’s street jam in a while. It was definitely the best-looking setup this year, although it looked similar to last year’s Dew Tour, but that isn’t saying much compared to what the X Games put up on the stream. And while we are talking about X Games, this stream was better as well without as many audio problems. But enough about what X Games did wrong, we will talk about our mistakes as well.
We didn’t put 17-year-old X Games Slopestyle gold medalist Mia Brookes in our favorite position in the prediction out of respect for Egan taking the last few jams, but we have learned our lesson. When a rider of Mia’s caliber shows up on the drop sheet amongst riders that have not had as many reps and podiums on the contest circuit, and is notable for her prowess on the rails in slopestyle… we will put them as a favorite. From her first drop, (spoiler alert) Mia Brookes was clearly the one to beat. Notable knockouts in round one were Grace Warner, Egan Wint, Desiree Melancon, and Kaleah Opal. All riders with tons of time on features similar to the course, but just couldn’t put up the tricks to advance. Iris Pham came out strong from the first round alongside Veda Hallen, Jaylen Hanson, Lex Roland, and Madison Blackley all looking to challenge Brookes in the final. Pham was the only rider to also put up a 90 in round one besides Brookes so betting odds would be on her to upset the lone X Games gold medalist in the field, but head-to-head battles are a double-edged sword.
They provide the drama we need in snowboarding, but it also robs us of matchups we hope to see down the line. Iris did not advance through the heat against Veda to challenge Mia Brookes after falling on her final hit followed up by Veda landing a solid run complete with a 450 on the final hit. Madison Blackley and Jaylen Hansen also went down in the head-to-head heats leading to a three-rider final of Brookes, Hallen, and Roland. You can probably guess from the whole writeup leading to this what happened in the final. Mia Brookes cruised through the final with the highest score and easily earned the gold. Veda and Lex battled for second and Lex ended up taking the silver despite having a swivel in her run! Maybe swivels are back? We guess that is what the judges are saying.
Solid start to the Dew Tour. Plenty more action going down this weekend, check back for our thoughts here. And big shoutout to the stream. First contest we have watched this year without a major streaming problem that wasn’t the FWT.
