Jenny Jones Crushes the Slopestyle Prelim
By: Nick Lipton – After her big win in Breck’ pre-qualified Slopestyle slayer Jamie Anderson watched as 12 of her friends competed for a spot in the Slopestyle Final. Between runs Jamie casually dropped for a bit of practice, perfecting the run she hopes will give her back-to-back Dew Tour wins. With Jamie looming and the Final just two days away, the intensity finally increased in girl world. After an hour of competition Jenny Jones sat on top, and way on top. Jenny blew away her competition by scoring a 91.00, 12 points higher than anyone else.
Currently third in the women’s Slopestyle Dew Cup Race, Jenny Jones tore apart the Slope course with an amazing first run. With rails up first Jenny boardslid the first rail, half-cab tail-pressed the next and murdered the jump line. Over the first jump Jenny threw a front 540, followed it up on the second jump with a cab 540 and popped a mean front 360 over the large third jump. With the run of the day on the top of the course, Jenny kept it mellow with a 5050 backside 180 out on the parks bottom feature (a long up rail). By second runs Jenny’s only had to do a victory lap before telling me how she felt, “I had a lot of fun there. You know sometimes you get overly nervous and forget why you’re doing it? This wasn’t like that. It was enjoyable. The sun’s out, the jumps are nice, but they are a little tight.” Jenny’s run didn’t only impress the judges and fans, her fellow riders even hyped her riding. Megan Ginter was one such lady, “I didn’t get to see Jenny’s run, but I hear it was really super amazing!” The point? Jamie Anderson might want to watch her back.
With Jenny now in the Final the remaining 11 riders were forced to compete for only four open spots. First to snag a spot, and join Jamie and Jenny, was 2nd place qualifier Spencer O’Brien. This young lady has style, and with a bag of tricks uncommon among the women, Spencer only has to land a run to make a Final. In the Prelim Spencer put down the day’s top tail-press. It was tall, controlled, and she looked cool doing it. To add to her banger list, Spencer has an off the toe frontside 540 that really can’t be touched, and today she popped one deep over the knuckle.
Hanging at the DC Mountain Lab and being picked on by the local SLC shred heads has apparently put Kimmy Fasani in the right mindset. Kimmy, 3rd place, kept things smooth with 360s and 540s. Kimmy has a solid jump set right now (back to back 360s and a 540) and plans to bring a bit more come the Final.
To make things dramatic 4th place Megan Ginter, 5th place Kjersti Ostgaard Buaas and 6th place Izzy Lalive ended the day in a tie. By rules, math or magic each girl was given a rank, and Izzy was bounced off the bubble and onto the sidelines. Each girl rode well, but Izzy’s run was a tad less exciting than Megan and Kjersti’s. Megan was conservative, but only by her standards. Spins and jibs filled her run, but Megan is hiding some heavy stuff deep in her bag of tricks. Kjersti, last to qualify, dropped a 720 during her second run that left the crowd slack jawed. Kjersti is a do or die type chick and a super stylish rider. When the pressure is on, like today, she’s likely to just try something crazy and hope for the best. While her game plan didn’t work out in Pipe, it worked wonders in Slopestyle. Then there is Lizzy Lalive, who unfortunately got bumped from the finals. She had a good 360, and rode solid, but her riding didn’t have the “wow” factor of Megan or Kjersti’s.
The seven other competitors in this Prelim all had highlights, but falls, speed issues and some serious competition left each one of them looking to the next event. For the five riders who will be meeting Jamie this Sunday in the Slopestyle Final, it will be time to step it up. Jamie has been murdering slope course after slope course this year and certainly isn’t afraid to squash the dreams of glory of each her friends, and fellow riders, may have this Sunday.
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