Henrik Harlaut Wins Slopestyle With a Brand New Trick

Henrik Harlaut took first place in the men’s ski slopestyle finals with a progressive and perfectly executed run that earned him a score of 95. Kicking off with a left lip bio 450 safety to backslide on the top rail feature, followed by a switch left 270 continuing 270, Harlaut immediately established that he’d be putting down a technical, creative run. His first two jumps were a clean right dub 1260 safety followed by a mind-bending, massive turntable left triple 1260 high mute. In the lower rail garden, he hit a backside 270 followed by a right 450 to switch. His bottom two hits were a conservative switch right bio 900 safety that set him up well to nail the biggest jump of the contest: a clean left dub 1620 tindy.

In an interview afterwards, Harlaut explained that he’d only done the last trick twice in his life—and never in a competition. “I don’t feel pressure,” Harlaut said of competing with a stacked field of athletes. “I only feel motivation.”

Nick Goepper came in second with a score of 92, which he earned on his first lap through the course. With incredible precision, Goepper put down a switch right 270 pretzel 270, a switch left 270 pretzel 270, a switch left dub 1080 Japan, a switch right dub 1260 mute, a left 270 on and right 450 on, 270 out in the lower rail garden, and a left dub 1080 Japan and right dub 14.

Oystein Braaten took third with a 91.33 for his run, in which he spun all four directions and multiple axes, nailed a wide variety of grabs, and did technical rails. He started with a switch leftside 270 pretzel 450 and a left cork 650 out, a right dub 1080 safety and a left dub 1260 mute, a switch on frontside 270 and a switch on front swap pretzel 270, and capped off with a switch right dub 1080 Japan and a switch left dub 1460 tail. His run was near-perfect, but he had low amplitude in his last hit, which brought his score down.

Evan McEachran, Alex Hall, and Gus Kenworthy all put down challenging, technical, clean runs, scoring in the high 80s, but the caliber of skiing was so high today that it wasn’t mistakes keeping skiers off the podium—it was the sheer excellence of their competition.

“These days it’s pretty crazy. Every single feature is so hard and technical to do. You have to be so so focused with every feature and every thing to do during the run,” said Harlaut.

Bobby Brown, Colby Stevenson, and McRae Williams all dropped out of the competition due to crashes. Williams took an uncharacteristically massive fall after losing his direction in midair, Bobby Brown looked to have tweaked a knee during a low landing on the last hit, and Colby Stevenson landed on his head after coming up short on one of the jumps.

Podium favorite James Woods of Great Britain failed to put down a run today, in a significant upset.

Ski Men’s Slopestyle Finals Results

1.) Henrik Harlaut, SWE, 95.00
2.) Nick Goepper, USA, 92.00
3.) Oystein Braaten, NOR, 91.33
4.) Evan McEachran, CAN, 90.00
5.) Alex Hall, USA, 89.66
6.) Gus Kenworthy, USA, 87.66
7.) James Woods, GBR, 80.00
8.) Bobby Brown, USA, 77.66
9.) Cody Laplante, USA, 64.66
10.) Antoine Adelisse, FRA, 28.33
11.) Colby Stevenson, USA, 22.33
12.) Mcrae Williams, USA, 11.00