Defending 2020 Dew Tour gold medalist Red Gerard made it two in a row on Saturday, winning the Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle final in dramatic fashion as the last rider to drop in for his second of two runs.
Gerard, also the defending 2018 PyeongChang Olympics gold medalist, was way down in 8th place as he stood at the top after a small hand drag in Run 1 cost him in an otherwise perfect pass. After watching his U.S. Snowboard teammate Chris Corning vault to the top in Run 2, Gerard says he was fired up at the top of the course.
“Standing at the top for Run 2 after seeing all the guys destroy it today, I was just thinking that I’m so proud of our U.S. team and all of my friends from everywhere, and how good we’ve been riding,” Gerard said. “Obviously I wanted to land a run and get on the podium, but more than anything, I was just feeling so happy with how everyone rode. It was incredible.”
Gerard bumped ahead of Corning for the top spot after a pass through the rails featuring a backside disaster to 270 out on the wallride, switch lipslide switch-up over the gap to backside lipslide, and switch backside 270 bring-back to regular. He was nearly flawless through the jumps with a frontside 1080 nosegrab, backside 1260 melon, and switch backside 1620 Weddle to push into the top spot.
“I couldn’t be happier to be back at Dew Tour and to win it again,” Gerard said, a little overwhelmed at the bottom of the course as his friends and family crew – rolling deep, as always – members of the media, and his girlfriend, Women’s Slopestyle competitor Hailey Langland, mobbed around him to celebrate.
He’s now essentially a lock for one of the four spots to represent Team U.S.A. in Men’s Slopestyle in Beijing. “I’m actually speechless,” he said. “I don’t think any of it has really set in yet.”
Corning, a Copper Mountain local who lives nearby Silverthorne and was recently engaged to his longtime girlfriend Shannatay Bergeron, finished 2nd. Bergeron was at the bottom of the course screaming with the fans as he briefly jumped into the #1 spot.
The top of Corning’s run featured skate-inspired tricks straight from the miniramp: an alley-oop to frontside 50-50 on the large wallride, then a mirror-image alley-oop backside 50-50 on the smaller wallride, before sending it into a 50-50 to noseslide to pretzel out combo and a backside 270 to 270 out. In the jumps, he hit a stylish Cab 1260 nosegrab, frontside flatspin 1440 melon, and backside triple cork 1440 melon.
Canada’s Mark McMorris, in the lead until the very last runs of the competition, posted a score of 90.00 in Run 1: 50-50 to backside 360 on the large wallride, wallie underflip 540 from the smaller wallride, switch lipslide gap to backside lipslide, and switch backside 270 on the downrail, then into a switch backside 1260 melon, frontside double cork 1080 Weddle, and backside triple cork 1430 Indy in the jumps.
Sean Fitzsimons, a new member of the U.S. Snowboard Slopestyle Pro Team who hails from Hood River, Oregon, impressed in Run 2 with back-to-back triple cork 1440s and was briefly in podium position, ultimately finishing 4th. Other Americans high up in the mix of 24 riders included Brock Crouch in 6th, and Like Winklemann in 11th.
Weather delays earlier in the week forced the cancellation of the semifinal event, so Saturday’s final ran with all 24 invited riders.
Full Men’s Snowboard Slopestyle Final Results
1.) Red Gerard, 93.25
2.) Chris Corning, 91.50
3.) Mark McMorris,90.00
4.) Sean Fitzsimmons, 89.50
5.) Darcy Sharpe, 89.25
6.) Brock Crouch, 88.50
7.) Takeru Otsuka, 86.00
8.) Marcus Kleveland, 85.00
9.) Rene Rinnekangas, 74.75
10.) Ryoma Kimata, 67.25
11.) Luke Winkelmann, 65.50
12.) Ruki Tobita, 60.25
13.) Liam Brearley, 58.25
14.) Storm Rowe, 54.25
15.) Sven Thorgren, 51.75
16.) Hunter Goulet, 50.00
17.) Fynn Womble, 47.25
18.) Kyle Mack, 45.25
19.) Dusty Henricksen, 43.75
20.) Dave Retzlaff, 36.50
21.) Mons Roisland, 28.25
22.) Sebastien Toutant, 27.00
23.) Kunitake Hiroaki, 25.75
24.) Stale Sandbech, 25.25
25.) Lucas Ferry, 14.25
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