Hall of Fame: Tanner Takes Superpipe

By Liam Downey

The Men’s Ski Superpipe Final the perfect bookend for a long weekend of freeskiing action. After a disappointing fourth-place finish in yesterday’s preliminary, Tanner Hall today persevered as expected — his first run in the final proving fine enough for the win. Rounding out the top three were Justin Dorey and Duncan Adams, respectively. Hall’s run boasted a host of high-flying and methodically executed tricks; he opened with a 1260, followed by back to back 9’s, and a flat 3 into a switch 10.

Dorey’s penchant for style was what earned him second, with a little help from his symmetrical alley oop flatspin 3s and down the pipe sevens. Satisfied with his first run, Dorey vowed to “switch it up” for the second, swapping his switch left 7 for a switch 10. Dorey’s run was so good that Tanner exclaimed “Oh, shit, it’s over! He won it” after the Canadian’s last hit. Although Dorey did manage to best his own first run score, he couldn’t match Tanner’s amplitude, remaining in the second place position. For the second day in a row, young Duncan Adams delivered perfectly executed runs with what were far and away the best grabs of any contestant. Although he lost points for going smaller than Dorey and Hall and ending his run with a 360, Duncan was the most consistent competitor throughout practice and finals, leaving little doubt that he will be a force to be reckoned with for a long while. When I asked him how it felt to be on his first professional podium, he said “it feels good,” then flashed a smile full of braces and added “it feels really good!”

The biggest upset of the night was the fifth place finish of Simon Dumont, yesterday’s top qualifier. Simon got unlucky twice in a row, experiencing huge gusts of wind in both of his finals runs. Watch out for Le Dumont at the next Dew Tour stop in Mt. Snow, VT, where he will likely boost bigger than ever!