At the end of March 2018, "COW DAY 3" was held at 47 Hakuba, Nagano.The highlight video has been uploaded, so let's report on the tournament with photos here.
Photo: Kentarou Fuchimoto
Check out the highlight videos here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=247&v=HbYbB-zjAZ0
Unfortunately, the number of freestyle big contests held in Japan is currently declining.However, the scale and total prize money of this COWDAY has increased with each round, and the number of riders who wish to participate has continued to increase.It is no exaggeration to say that Japan has now established itself as a contest to determine the strongest freestyler in Japan.In this tournament as well, Olympic contestants, veteran riders, and New Age in their early teens fought a fierce battle with jumps and jib with a total prize pool of 10 million yen.
1260 is the norm !? A fierce jump battle
First of all, from the jump.Set in a kicker of about 20m, a total of 20 riders who won the previous day's qualifying participated in this race in addition to the invited riders.The interesting thing about this tournament is that for female riders, plus 360 degrees is added to the spin and it is a mixed gender.Let's add that there are stages that require style as well as high difficulty.Therefore, riders are required to have comprehensive gliding ability and abundant self-expression, and for the gallery, it is structured so that you will not get tired of watching the game at any time, such as the main race qualifying, the semi-final, and the final.
The rules for the jump tournament are as follows.In the main qualifying, the top 3 players with the total points of the best 2 of 12 runs (same rotation is minus) will win, and in the following semi-final, the style will be the key to the game, not the number of rotations or difficulty. Of the two runs, the top eight players with the best points judged in style can advance to the next stage.And the final tournament is a knockdown format with the best points of 2 out of 8 runs.At this stage, you will need a strategy to win while watching the tricks of your opponent.In the final Super Final, the winner will be decided by the best score of one of the three runs so that he can fully perform the most difficult tricks he can have.Will Yuki Kadono win the championship for the fourth time in a row?
In addition to the champion Kakuno, Yuri Okubo and Hiroaki Kunitake of the Pyeongchang Olympics Japan representative, and Yutaro Miyazawa who won the All Japan Championship and is riding the wave, a super girl who has 13 at the age of 1260 Murase Kunitake and others won the championship properly.
However, in the semi-final, Okubo, who fascinated the gallery with his unique style, and Murase, who was close to winning the championship after leaving this stage, disappeared ...
Furthermore, in the final tournament, a series of big ups and downs awaited.Yuki Kadono, who failed to land and injured his knees, Hiroaki Kunitake, who gained popularity at the Olympics, Minsik Lee, the Korean representative of the Pyeongchang Olympics, and Yutaro Miyazawa disappeared one after another. ..Four teenage riders, Ryo Aizawa, Kaito Hamada, Rikuhi Ohashi, and Kaito Jinguji, who can be said to be emerging powers, won them.It was a stage where I felt the immeasurable power of the next generation.
When the battle of the Super Final started, 1260 and 1440 spins flew one after another as a matter of course.The 1620, which was thought to be a little strict with the kicker size used at the tournament, also popped out.A really fierce aerial battle was fought.The winner was Ryo Aizawa, who had an outstanding sense of stability in landing and a sharp spin released from his trained body.From the runner-up of the previous year, the result was a splendid victory in the crown.
The temperature was high during the time when the jump was taking place, and it was difficult to keep the lip and landing in good condition.However, thanks to the careful maintenance of the digger crew, many of the riders who participated in the race were able to continue to perform their own near-limit tricks until the end.The number of galleries continued to increase to see stylish air and transcendental tricks because of the tournament rules that did not put the same tricks on parade and the efforts of the people involved.In this way, the jump battle that was able to witness the high potential of the next generation riders who defeated Olympians while being surrounded by a large number of galleries ended.
<Big Air_Result>
1st_Ryo Aizawa
2nd_Jinguji Ama
3rd_ Ohashi Rikuhi
4th_ Kaito Hamada
Unpredictable jib battle what will pop out
When the sun was hiding in the mountains and the temperature dropped sharply, a hot session of the jibers was held on the special jib stage set up at the entrance of Hakuba 47. It is the start of the second act of COWDAY.
First of all, the men's qualifying A heat and B heat were held.Here too, many famous riders who are active in the movie, including Atsushi Hasegawa, one of the best jibers in Japan, will disappear.The final was a jam session with 10 riders who won the qualifying heat and 10 women's finalists.
In the final of the jib, the judges are waiting under the course, and coins (200 coins in total) will be given depending on the perfection and style of the trick.After that, the rule was that 100 coins distributed to general audiences would be voted, and the one with the most wins would win.There is no clear point, so you can charm it with style, make the gallery boil with dynamic tricks, compete with a squishy silver expert skill, do one difficult trick, etc., like a rider like a jump. You can freely choose how to show it.In other words, you can see a wide variety of tricks.
For women, it was impressive to see Yuka Fujimori and Kokomo Murase making stable tricks one after another.For men, the BS360 inn with the momentum of Yamamoto Conrad, the 5-O after hitting the board on the inn of the rail of Shouma Takao, the transfer aimed at the flat part of the Kink rail of Yuri Okubo, the BS450 inn of Kaito Hamada, etc. To name a few, tricks popped out, and in a blink of an eye, a heated battle was fought so that 30 minutes had passed.
As a result, the abundance of tricks and the high make-up rate were evaluated by the judges and galleries.Two Olympians, Fujimori for women and Okubo for men, won the championship.
<Jib_result (women's)>
1st_Yuka Fujimori
2nd_Kokomo Murase
3rd_ Maiko Matsuda
<Jib_Result (Men's)>
1st_Yuri Okubo
2nd_ Kaito Hamada
3rd_ Yamamoto Conrad
In this way, COWDAY, which deserves to be called Japan's strongest freestyler deciding match, ended with a rampage of new young talented riders.
Finally, we asked Keiji Okamoto, the executive committee chairman of this tournament, to talk about the significance of continuing to hold COWDAY.
"Riders wouldn't get excited without a big tournament. At my time, I had X-TRAIL JAM and TOYOTA BIG AIR, but now I don't have one. The purpose is to create a chance to appeal. The concept of COWDAY is "RIDER FIRST". We listen to the opinions of riders and do it for riders to enjoy. Of course, not only riders but also world standards I also want to show that there is a crew in Japan who can design a course where tricks pop out. There are park crews in Japan that are not inferior to the world. As for, many riders who mainly focus on video have started to participate. I hope everyone is looking forward to this tournament and raising their voices, and if more fans are looking forward to it. it's the best"
Also, the FREERUN editorial department will cover COWDAY, and interviews with the two notable riders who made the tournament exciting will be posted at a later date, so please look forward to it!
