In its eighth iteration, Men’s Snowboard Streetstyle took place on the mountain for the first time as part of the Dew Tour’s move to their new location at Copper Mountain. As seen in years past, a heavy field of riders took on a unique course under bright lights in front of a screaming crowd for a full-on jam session party.
Ten riders made up the field of invited snowboarders, with each taking an introductory run on the course before proceeding to jam out for a 45-minute session. In the end, only three riders would be ranked and an additional Best Trick awarded for the most impressive and difficult trick landed on the tight course built by Woodward Copper.
It wasn’t long before the first rider got inverted, and nobody was surprised to see Jesse Paul volunteering to backflip off the pole-jam and over the stair set. Paul wasn’t the only one to get upside down, though. Shortly after it was Miles Falon boosting a McTwist off of one of the walls lower on the course. Both Falon and Paul were putting on a true show for the fans.
Another name also continued to get the crowd excited with every drop. Rene Rinnekangas reminded everyone that he has the most fun in every event he enters. Rinnekangas gapped out switch 270 on the kinked handrail up top and then hit the snow wall down low as a gesture of pure enjoyment to be out there riding everything and anything.
Interesting to note, Ozzy Henning opted not to practice on the course before taking to the contest. Though it was impossible to tell by his tricks that he came out colder than the rest. Conversely, Benny Milam may have practiced on the course more than most throughout the week. Milam made a major move to wow the crowds with his gap out switch backside 360 to bring back on the kinked handrail.
“Every contest should have a streetstyle event,” said Milam earlier in the week between practice sessions. “[Streetstyle] allows people to see what rail riders do, and that there’s a different side to snowboarding than just slope and pipe. It is also a better spectator event because the course is small enough that everyone can see everything.”
Still, it seemed to be Paul and Falon wowing the crowd the most often. Falon hand sprung his way over the electrical box, as did Paul by way of a Miller flip.
Other notables were Brandon Davis who also flipped a backflip tuck knee off the pole-jam, Drayden Gardner got technical with a boardslide switch-up to frontside boardslide in addition to wall jamming up and over the electrical box, and of course Nate Haust who spun a complete 720 across the same electrical box.
To little surprise, Falon found the overall win on the night.
“The course was fun and flowy like a skatepark,” said Falon once he found himself with he first place trophy in his hand after the event. “My favorite trick was pulling the one-foot slide across the electrical box–that came out of nowhere.” Falon continued to describe the atmosphere of the evening saying, “After dark and after hours with all these people-the most I’ve ever snowboarded in front of-it was insane energy!”
Men’s Snowboard Streetstyle Results
1.) Miles Falon
2.) Rene Rinnekangas
3.) Benny Milam
Best Trick – Benny Milam – Gap out switch backside 360 to bring back on the kinked handrail
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