Monumental performance by Tom Wallisch earns him Winter X Games Aspen 2012 Men’s Ski Slopestyle gold
Bringing the best freeskiers from around the world together promises nothing but a heavy dose of electrifying showdown. Winter X Games Aspen 2012 did exactly that by putting together a line-up comprising of extremely talented freeskiers for the Men’s Ski
Slopestyle contest that went down under lights on Thursday evening, January 26, at Buttermilk, Aspen.
With the likes of Tom Wallisch, Bobby Brown, Alex Schlopy, Gus Kenworthy and Andreas Håtveit in contention for the coveted place on the podium, there was hardly anyone who doubted the fact that the competition was going to be extremely intense. With the
inclusion of the sport in Winter Olympics that are scheduled to go down in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, the hype surrounding the Thursday’s ski slopestyle contest was even higher than before.
While everyone expected the battle for glory to be intense, there was hardly anyone who expected the night to be historical, courtesy of an outstanding performance by Wallisch.
The 24-year-old Wallisch was undoubtedly immensely talented and had been making a solid impact in the sport, but he hardly struck as the sort of athlete who would choose a Winter X Games night to announce himself as a force to be reckoned with.
Finishing just behind Winter X Games rookie Nick Goepper who scored the highest in the 16-man elimination round, Wallisch comfortably advanced through into the eight-man Final to battle it out for the coveted gold medal.
While the big-guns of freeskiing failed to make much of an impression during the finals, Wallisch announced himself as a deadly threat by landing a strong first run for a score of 93.66, consequently taking an early lead.
The Lawrenceburg-based Goepper, the youngest athlete on the Men’s Ski Slopestyle roster, had no intention of letting the Winter X Games veteran get the better of him and thus responded effectively with an impressive second run, earning a score of 94.66 for
the effort and thus snatching the lead from Wallisch. The impressive run comprised of a double-grab manoeuvre on his right-side dub 12, switching from mute to Japan.
As the contest came down to the third and final run, Wallisch found himself trailing behind Goepper. Determined to make the most of his final run, the Pittsburgh-based skier unleashed his creativity and versatility with the intended motivation of earning
a huge score from the judges. Pulling off a back-side 450 on the rail features, Wallisch went on to perform a switch right 900 mute on his first jump, followed by a double cork 1260 mute on his second run, a switch right double cork 1080 Japan on his third
jump before capping his run with an outstanding switch left-side double cork 1080 Japan.
The phenomenal run earned Wallisch a 96.00, the highest score in the event’s history, to put him in first place once again. With the failure of Goepper to beat his score off his third run, the fate of the final got decided in Wallisch’s favour.
“This is amazing,” said a jubilant Wallisch. “Under the lights, primetime, this crowd, it's amazing. Everybody did pretty much perfect runs, right, left, doubles, 10s, 12s, it's just a matter of trying to stand out, somehow.”
Goepper was thrilled with his silver medal and he had all the reason to feel that way as there were not too many 17-year-old skiers around who could boast a Winter X Games silver.
Norway’s Håtveit delivered an exquisite performance on Thursday’s Final as well and collected a 92.00 off his best run. On any other day, the run would have been sufficient to earn him top honours. However, with the level of performances delivered by Wallisch
and Goepper, the 25-year-old Norwegian was forced to settle for third place.
The intensity of Men’s Ski Slopestyle Final definitely justified all the effort that had been put into earning an Olympic status for the sport. The road to 2014 Sochi Olympics is expected to be full of competitions as intense as the one witnessed on Thursday
in Aspen.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect bettor.com’s official editorial policy.
Tags: