USA’s Jamie Anderson clinches Slopestyle gold at 2011 Winter X Games Europe
The final day of the world’s biggest winter sports event, the 2011 Winter X Games Europe, kicked off with the Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle on Friday, in Tignes, France. After one of the most exciting slopestyle battles, it was America’s sensational rider,
Jamie Anderson, who walked away with yet another WX gold medal and further asserting her dominance in the field.
Norway’s Silje Norendal finished up as the first runner-up and secured the silver. Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi took home the bronze medal after finishing in third place.
The 21-year-old Anderson has been amassing victories throughout the course of her career, due to her consistency and style. There are few who will argue with her status of being the most dominating women in slopestyle to date. She was recently crowned as
the Swatch Ticket to Ride World Champion at Vermont. Entering this years’ WXE as a favourite to win, she lived up to the expectations and did justice to her reputation.
"The riding today was so great. The girls were all riding so good," said Anderson. "I was so stoked it really inspired me. I wanted to do some bigger runs but unfortunately I couldn't get my back 5 down, but I landed my mellower run first and it ended up
scoring well, so I think maybe just having clean style all the way through is what worked for me today.”
After two days of stormy conditions, the weather had finally decided to show some kindness to the competition on the final day. The sky was sunny and the conditions were ideal for the Slopestyle final.
Anderson pulled off a sensational first run that pretty much sealed the fate of the contest. The run, that earned her an unbeatable score of 95.33, included a super solid line through the jib section and her trade trick, the switch backside 540. It was indeed
a pleasure to watch such an impressive run. After the result, Anderson admitted that she was tired now and plans on staying away from the competitive scene for a while to relax.
Norway’s Norendal came up with an amazing second run to earn a score of 92.33. She further improved on the score with an even more outstanding third run, which consisted of a clean frontside rodeo, to end up with a score of 94.00, as she managed to secure
the silver medal.
Canada’s Spencer O’Brien had an excellent second run that earned her a score of 93.33 and nearly got her the bronze medal. However, the 20-year-old WX 15 gold medallist, Rukajarvi, managed to push O’Brien off the podium, after securing a score of 93.66 in
her last run, which included an amazing Cab 720.
Two-time WX gold medallist and the defending WXE champion, Jenny Jones, failed to make an impact in the final, due to an injury sustained in practice at the Burton US Open last week. Her perseverance was still applauded by her fans.
The Women’s Snowboard Slopestyle turned out to be an extremely intense and nail-biting contest, with an exhibition of top-class riding by some of the world’s most exciting female riders. The final day of this years’ WXE has just begun, and there is still
a lot more thrilling action to come.
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