After several years of next to no Canadian presence at the Winter X Games, we finally learned why: they were worried we might actually win. All joking aside, Winter X Games 15 has been a spectacular one, with many Canadians bringing home hardware.
The big story of the games, for us at least, was Sebastien Toutant.
Starting things off by qualifying first in men's slopestyle with the
highest score ever, (a 97.00, the previous three all belonging to Shaun
White), he went on to get a silver in the big air that night. He missed
gold by only one point, falling to Torstein Horgmo's triple cork, the
first one ever done in competition.
The next day, Seb took gold in men's slopestyle with what could only
be described as a textbook display of the future of competitive
snowboarding. Three doublecorks, all stomped with decisive precision.
Seb's slopestyle gold:
[Can't see the video? Click here]
As icing on the cake, Seb earned the title of Best Athlete of the
Games for his wins and overall positivity, a title that comes with the
shiny new Jeep, no doubt stock with the "it's an X Games thing,
you wouldn't understand" bumper sticker.
Following close behind Seb was his training partner-in-crime Mark
McMorris. Just missing the podium with a fourth in the big air, he was
right beside Seb when the medals were handed out for slopestyle, his
score of 90.00 second only to Seb's 93.00.
McMorris's silver in slopestyle:
This follows on the heels of Seb and McMorris's identical results from the O'Neil Evolution in Europe. Hopefully we'll see repeat performances from them at this week's Burton Canadian Open in Calgary.
In the first-ever Real Street Rail Jam, it was a strictly Canadian affair on the podium with Nic Sauve taking gold, Louis-Felix Paradis the silver and Simon Chamberlain the bronze. This is even more meaningful when you consider their competition was Jeremy Jones, Seth Huot, Joe Sexton and JP Walker.
Nic's Rail Jam win:
In the Real Snow video contest, despite winning the fan voting, Nic Sauve's tech skills didn't quite do it for the judges and Dan Brisse's insane stunt work took the win.
Congrats to our Canadian women, Sarah Conrad and Specner O'Brien, who rode in women's superpipe and slopestyle, respectively. Neither placed, but it's an honor just to ride at this elite level, and hopefully we'll see more from them at the Canadian Open.
The non-Canadian stories were still notable. As already mentioned (and predicted), Torstein Horgmo put down the first-ever triple cork in competition, thanks in part to a jump crafted specifically for the trick. Kelly Clark dominated women's superpipe with a first of her own, landing a 1080 for the gold.
Torstein's Triple:
And of course, there was Shaun White. Added to the competitor's roster late in the game after some 'convincing' from ESPN, it was his first competition since the 2010 Winter Olympics. With two Olympic gold medals and 19 X Games medals, there was certainly a target on his back (and not just his Target sponsor logo). After failing to make finals in slopestyle, there was even more pressure when it came to the games-closing men's superpipe final. And Shaun did what he does best under pressure: win. His winning run left no question that he's still the best in the pipe and silenced people pointing out his all-leather outfit.
Shaun's gold-medal run:
There were lots of other stories and results from the games, including some Canadian skier wins, which you can learn all about at the
ESPN X Games site.
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