It was a historic night at Boston Fenway Park on Friday, with Lisa Zimmerman (GER) and Vincent Gagnier (CAN) taking wins in front of a massive crowd gathered to witness the first World Cup big air take place on a 140-feet tall (43m) scaffold ramp.
Friday's competition concluded a week-long spectacular event for both snowboarding and skiing fans, with organizers estimating an attendance of nearly 30,000 individuals over the two days of competition.
Morning qualifications on Friday selected the top six ladies as well as the top ten men from the stacked filed of international athletes, with Emma Dahlstrom (SWE), Vincent Gagnier and Fabian Boesch (SUI) some of the athletes leading the way and firing up the atmosphere ahead of the evening’s main event.
In the ladies’ competition, Zimmerman showcased a spectacular level of riding on her way to claiming the win. She was the only female to drop in switch and was stomping tricks deep in the landing all day. She started the finals with a corked 720 that had in fourth place, just to follow-up in her second run with a huge switch 720 that was so big she nearly ended up stomping it in the parking lot. While she couldn’t stick the landing on the first try, she corrected the speed and put it down clean it in her third and final attempt. With 173.20 combined score Zimmermann edged Dahlstrom by only 0.20 points.
"I was struggling a little bit today so I was really happy to land two tricks in the finals. It was quite sketchy to drop in switch, but I survived and it paid off", concluded Zimmermann with a big smile on her face.
Although Dahlstrom didn’t go for the most technical tricks, she impressed judges with extremely clean style on her cork 720 and the right-side 540 with tweaked safety grab. While it wasn’t enough to beat the German skier, she admitted the experience to compete in front of a such big crowd and in such an amazing venue was far more important than the result.
"I had an awesome day here at Fenway. It was a great feeling to drop in with such a big crowd and it really got me pumped. Of course it was very close to the first place but I'm happy that Lisa took it because she simply deserved it," said Dahlstrom.
Tiril Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR) rounded up the women’s podium and won the direct battle for the third spot with Italian Silvia Bertagna, also by the slim margin of 0.20 points. Christiansen kept her lead in the overall World Cup standing with scoring 205 total points through three slopestyle and big air stops thus far.
Men’s field saw a close competition with all of ten riders being a potential podium threat.
At the end, it was between Vincent Gagnier and Andri Ragettli for the win and the Polartec Fenway Big Air baseball bat trophy.
Gagnier went all way in with his trademark creativity, stomping a bio 900 vinni to octo grab, and a crowd-favourite switch rodeo to funky pretzel, holding to an opposite tweaked mute grab the whole way through. It looked like this was exactly what judges were looking for as his combination of jumps received the highest score of day – 185.00.
"Conditions tonight were perfect. Good landings and perfect speed. I did my tricks and it worked out for the best," summed up Gagnier.
Ragettli, who represents the young generation of talented Swiss riders, finished Boston’s competition right after Gagnier. He scored lower than Canadian athlete only by 2 points and proved once again that he’s a master of going both big and technical.
Ragettli’s teammate Jonas Hunziker took home third spot on the podium and number one spot in the heart of the fans, skiing on Friday night with a Boston Bruins NHL hockey jersey on under his competition bib.
"It was probably one of my best nights ever," said a clearly pleased Hunziker. "The stadium was just so packed with people and I think I've never skied in front of such a big audience. It's definite something very special in general, and then ending up on the podium is like a dream come true."
On the World Cup leader-board it is still Joss Christiansen out front after three tour stops, despite pulling out of the competition in Boston due to a minor knee injury.
The FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup tour continues next week with the Olympic test event slopestyle competition in Pyeongchang, site of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Qualifiers there are scheduled for Thursday, Feb 18th with the finals to follow-up on Saturday, Feb 20th.
Photo Gallery - credit: Sarah Brunson / US Freeskiing
Source: fis-ski.com
