Russ Henshaw lands freeskiing’s second triple cork 1440
The 20 –year-old landed the trick in a 45-minute practice session on the Jon Olsson Invitation (JOI) jump in Are, Sweden, on April 19, to become the second freeskier ever to get the triple cork 1440 under his belt.
Just a few days ago, we saw America’s Bobby Brown mesmerise the world with the first every triple cork 1440 in freeskiing. Just a couple of days later, the tricks was landed once again, but it was not Brown on the skis this time. It was the pro skier from
Australia, Russ Henshaw.
The Jindabyne-based pro skier had attempted the trick last year, but the attempt had been futile and he ended up hitting his head. He had refrained from repeating the attempt, but had been on a look out for a good jump ever since so that he could have another
shot at it.
He finally got his chance to go for the trick when he came across the JOI jump. According to him, the jump had a lot of kick in it and sent the skier really high in the air. According to his estimation, the jump went at about 80ft. Henshaw added that he
initially overshot the landing during warm-up, but the resulting impact allowed him to discover that the jump was safe and soft. This gave him the confidence to attempt the triple cork after almost a year.
After warming up for a while, he went for the triple cork 1440 on his six hit off the jump and landed it perfectly on his very first attempt. According to him, the first thought that came in his mind after he landed the trick cleanly was, “Finally, I've
done it.” Surely it was about time for him to complete what he had started a year ago.
The trip to Sweden had definitely become a memorable one for Henshaw, thanks to a perfectly landed triple cork 1440. He has travelled to Are to participate in the JOI event. The qualifying round of the contest is scheduled to kick off on Friday, while the
finals will be taking place on Saturday.
Some of the more seasoned names, such as Gus Kenworthy and Jacob Wester, will be missing from the JOI line up this year, as they have opted to compete in the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) World Championships at Whistler in Blackcomb, Canada.
However, other heavy weights of freeskiing, namely Elias Ambuhl, Andreas Hatveit, Laurent Favre, Alex Schlopy, etc. will be there at JOI. Some fresh faces, selected through video qualification contests, will be making up the rest of the field.
With an amazing jump feature in the contest, the skiers are expecting a very thrilling showdown. While commenting on the jump and the possibility of even more progressive tricks getting landed through the week, Henshaw said, “It's a super well-built jump
and it's super safe. If we get longer sessions and the weather's good, I don't know, the sky's the limit. We'll see what happens.”
Even though a few other riders have been landing some amazing tricks thanks to the celebrated JOI jump, Henshaw’s triple cork 1440 is hands-down for the biggest and neatest trick of them all.
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