History Repeats Itself in Snowboard Slope Finals

Last month’s Winter Dew Tour snowboard slopestyle winners Jamie Anderson and Torstein Horgmo did it again at the second stop of the Winter Dew Tour in Killington, Vermont.

In the women’s final, Anderson and Spencer O’Brien were neck in neck, with O’Brien taking over the lead from her in the second round after tackling the top rail section with a a frontside boardslide on the down rail into a nose slide on the flat down into a boardslide 180 out. She hit up the jumps with a switch backside 540 off the first, into a frontside 360 and a backside 360.

Jamie Anderson

But the Canadian Nike 6.0 rider didn’t hang on to it for long, because Anderson, the reigning Dew Cup champ, was up next as the last rider of the finals.

Anderson answered back with a blunt on the rail to a 5050 frontside boardslide, a boardslide switch out to a Cab 5 indy, frontside 360 mute and a huge backside 180 mute to score 91.25 to O’Brien’s second-place score of 87.25.

“Jamie’s a really great competitor and she’s always able to come through in a clinch whenever anyone puts pressure on her,” O’Brien said. “I definitely think she deserved to win.”

This win and the win at the Nike 6.0 Open puts Anderson in the overall lead heading into the final stop of the Winter Dew Tour next month.

“I’m really grateful and I’m definitely happy I’ve done good in the last two events,” Anderson said. “I want to keep pushing women’s riding, and progression in general and just keep doing my best and have fun.”

Third place went to New Zealand’s Rebecca Torr, with a score of 74.75 and a solid showing in the finals, including her stylish backside lipslide on the rail and solid backside 540 off the jump.

“The rails were really on point, they were probably the most fun ever,” Torr said. “I’m just loving Killington, it’s so pretty here.”

In the men’s field, Eric Willett had a fall on his first run and came back to finish in second-place with a 92.50. He earned his first Winter Dew Tour podium of the season. His run went like this: switch frontside boardslide 270 out to half Cab on frontside boardslide 270 out the rails. He threw a huge frontside 10 double cork, double cork backside rodeo to switch backside 10 double cork.

Torstein Horgmo

“That was the first time I’d put that run down in practice or competition, so I was just stoked to put it down,” Willett said.

Another standout of the event was 17-year-old Canadian Mark McMorris, who finished second at the last Winter Dew Tour event in Breckenridge. He podiumed again in Killington after scoring 90.50 and finishing third.

“This is my first Dew Tour season,” McMorris said. “I didn’t really do it last year because I did more TTR, but I know it’s good to do well in the U.S. I wish I would have been higher on the podium today, but third is OK too.”

Technical riding was the deciding factor for the win in men’s snowboard slopestyle, and Horgmo had a style that was unbeatable, even though he was competing with injured ribs.

His winning run scored a 95.25 and went like this: Cab 270 to fakie, switch blunt 270 on, switch tail slide 270 out on the up rail, switch frontside double cork 10, switch back 12, double cork.

“It feels really good to win, I just can’t let it sink in just yet,” Horgmo said. “I’m in some pain right now because I broke my ribs three weeks ago, but it was a really good course.”

Like Anderson, Horgmo holds the overall lead heading into the Toyota Championships in Snowbasin, and he’ll be vying for the first Dew Cup of his career.