New Kid On The Block: Tyler Flanagan

By: Nick Lipton – Pay attention to snowboarder Tyler Flanagan, he deserves it. The 16 year-old grabbed the top spot in the Winter Dew Tour’s Totino’s Open Slopestyle competition and just snagged a second place finish at the Mammoth Grand Prix right behind veteran Chas Guldemond. Tyler has no plans to make the rest of the year any easier for his competition. When not stacking trophies or counting prize money this young buck has been feverously learning new tricks in hopes of staying on top.

As the new kid on the block Tyler has shaken the Slopestyle circuit up, and just like a fine wine, Tyler will only improve with age. The rest of the season, starting in Snowbasin this week should be interesting as Tyler attempts prove he is for real as the biggest names in Slopestyle jockey to regain their old podium spots. In a car somewhere between Mammoth and LA, Tyler revealed a little about his plans and what he has been working on. Maybe a bit shy or just a kid of few words, he’s saying plenty when he hits the slope course.

What were you throwing in Mammoth to finish in 2nd place?
I went Backside 1080, Frontside 900, Backside 540 and ended with a Cab 1080.

Rumors swirled that Breckenridge was a fluke. After the Mammoth podium do you feel you squashed the negative talk, are you feeling good heading into Snowbasin?
I do.

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Should the crowd expect to see anything new, or are you sticking with what has worked so far?
Well I just learned Doublecork Backside 1080 today. But you know, we’ll see…

Are we going to see this Doublecork in Snowbasin?
Yeah, well, yeah I’ll most likely go for the Doublecork back ten.

As the current leader in Winter Dew Tour Slopestyle do you feel like you have something to prove in Snowbasin?
Yeah, a lot. I’m chasing that Dew Cup.

So we can expect to see you in Vermont come February?
Oh definitely.

Snowbasin, why are you excited?
The practice days, definitely the practice days.

Are you confident enough to call out a Snowbasin victory now, do you think you will take back to back wins?
I dunno, I hope so, I’m definitely going to try my hardest too.

Nervous?
No!