Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson shine at the finals of the 6Star Oakley Arctic Challenge
The 6Star Oakley Arctic Challenge was done with the finals on February 19 at Oslo, Norway. Conforming to the speculation, America’s pride Jamie Anderson once again proved her excellence and superiority on the slopestyle course.
Canada’s Spencer ‘O Brien placed second, whereas Britain’s Jenny Jones came third. In the men’s finals, the Americans took over podium. Chas Guldemond took the title with Tyler Flanagan and Sage Kotsenburg in the second and third positions respectively.
The winner of the contest earned themselves a mammoth portion of the $100,000 prize purse along with the invaluable 1000 Swatch TTR points. Aside from these prizes, Guldemond and Anderson have automatically qualified for next year’s snowboarding championships
in Oslo.
Chas Guldemond made a powerful impact very early in the men’s finals of the slopestyle event. His spectacular run, comprised of a Cab 270 to frontside boardslide on the down rail, switch 50-50 to method on the canon, Cab 1260 on the step-down jump, backside
1080 on the step-down jump, a 50-50 to backside 360 on the flat rail, and a double backside rodeo on the last jump to seal his run, proved too much for the rest of the riders to beat. This unbeatable run earned him a score of 89.1.
“I think I just landed my run clean,” said Guldemond about his win. “I couldn't be happier. I'm so stoked to be in Norway. It's always been one of my dreams to win the Arctic Challenge and here I am. I feel really lucky.”
In his last run, Flanagan came quite close to matching the style and splendour of Guldemond’s run and gave him shivers, but just fell short in the end. He placed second with a score of 88.9. The up-and-coming Sage Kotsenburg also managed to impress the
judges with his impressive display of skills on the slopestyle course and managed to score 86.4, earning him a place on the podium.
With these results, Guldemonds has moved to the World No.16 position in the Swatch TTR Ranking, whereas Flanagan has pushed himself to the World No.121 spot. Kotsenburg also improved his position by getting on the podium, sitting on World No.29 now.
In the women’s finals, Jamie Anderson continued to assert her dominance by taking home yet another slopestyle title. She managed to conquer the final after unleashing an impressive run that comprised of a noseslide, a 50-50 backslide 180 mute, a huge switch
backside 540, backside 360, a tailslide to 270, and a backside 540 Indy on the last jump to finish off her stunning run. The run got her an unbeatable score of 87.4.
“I was never crowned the prom queen, but finally I got my crown,” Anderson commented at the prize ceremony.
Canada’s Spencer ‘O Brien earned a score of 85.1 after pulling off a really smooth run. The rider from Great Britain, Jenny Jones barely landed herself on the podium by earning a score of 75.7.
It is indeed a difficult job to be a judge in an event with such a star line-up. The margin of difference between the skill levels of these snowboarders is so small that one has to strain really hard to notice it. On the other hand, the riders themselves
understand the level of talent they are up against, and it the end it comes down to minor hiccups during the runs that end up deciding the fate of the competition.
The Oakley Arctic Challenge is a wrap now and only one more 6Star event of Swatch TTR Snowboarding World Tour is left, the Burton US Open. This season’s Swatch TTR Champions will be crowned at the climax of that event, bringing the season to an end.
At the moment Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen is the World.No.1 male rider and America’s Jamie Anderson is women’s World No. 1. Both enjoy a comfortable lead and are the best bets for this year’s titles. However, the rest of the riders seem pretty determined to
make some serious improvement to their TTR Ranking table standings before the season finishes.
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