"THE SLOPE" was held at Joetsu Kokusai!
THE SLOPE?It's an unfamiliar event ...
Three sections appear in front of Green Plaza Joetsu International, a hotel towering over Joetsu Kokusai Ski Resort.
The first is the 3WAY jib section.Riders choose down-flat-down kink rails, flat-down boxes, and down-boxes from the blind gap.
The second is a big step-down kicker.
And the third is a combination item of kicker and quarter pipe.You can use the kicker to jump over, or use the quarterpipe to decide on R-type tricks.
The course design is SNOW PARK TECHNOLOGIES, SPT, which has received tremendous support from riders all over the world.And it is the familiar Iron Crow and AREA51s and other representative park builders in Japan who support the creation of this course.
▲ Qualifying
I see, it's about trying to make the competition packed with all the elements of snowboarding on a compact course.
During the week of the tournament, the weather map around Japan has a picture-like winter-type pressure distribution, and is it a Valentine's cold wave?Has arrived.The Sea of Japan side had a record heavy snowfall.
During the public practice on Friday, the rider screamed, "The board doesn't run!" And "I can't reach it!".
In response to such a voice, the SPT crew also worked hard to correct and adjust, saying "OK! YOU GYUS, I'll fix it in an hour!".
Qualifying on Saturday.A qualifying run was held for two groups of 26 people each, divided into group A in the morning and group B in the afternoon.
A total of 6 players will advance to the final tournament, with 12 players from each of the top 4 players in each group A and B, and the top 16 players from the players excluding them, who will score the top XNUMX players in a mixture of A and B.
In outdoor competitions, the conditions are usually different due to the rapidly changing weather, but not only the technique but also the heavens must be on your side.Is this exactly what luck is within your ability?
In Group A, 1st run, while visibility was poor, Takato Taniguchi marked 229 points.This is followed by Riki Masuda with 216 points and Yuji Suzuki with 213 points.
Looking at the slips of each of the top riders, we can see that it is important to make sure to make up and enter the next section without stalling, not to mention the difficulty level.In fact, I can even feel the excitement of seeing the slip that comes into the 2rd section while flying high and flying at high speed in the 3nd section.
In the 2nd run, Keijiro Kasahara got excited while the score was sluggish! Hit a high score of 248 points.And even in the 1st, Yuji Suzuki, who was in 3rd place, further increased the score to 237 points. Rise to 2nd place.This sense of stability is real.
As a result, the following 6 people from Group A advanced to the final.
Keijiro Kasahara 248 points
Yuji Suzuki 237 points
Takato Taniguchi 229 points
Koji Okumura 219 points
Masuda base 216 points
Daisuke Hosono 215 points
The condition of the following B group changed completely.Good visibility with sunlight during public practice.This seems to be expected to have a high score.
Top runner Atsushi Ishikawa suddenly marked 270 points!Quinton Robins marked 257 points, followed by Louis Pullker 253 points, Hayato Totani 248 points, and Choco Vanilla Ball Arai 228 points. In the 1st run, high scores were obtained across the board, but the clouds gradually became suspicious, and the 2nd run began to snow again.Each rider's score is sluggish, but Tyler Emmond scored 233 points and broke into the top of Group B.
▲ snow style award Shuhei Kikuchi's one foot
The results of Group B are as follows
Atsushi Ishikawa 270 points
Quinton Robins 257 points
Louis Pullker 253 points
Hayato Toya 248 points
Tyler Emmond 233 points
Chocolate vanilla ball Arai 228 points
And the remaining 4 people are all from Group B
Kazuya Domae 224 points
Mutsuo Yamaguchi 223 points
Dan Breeze 218 points
Takeshi Kusumoto 217 points
It became.
After this qualifying, each media award was announced by each selection from 6 snowboard media such as FREERUN, snowstyle, SnowBaorder, SupeRb, TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING JAPAN, and SBN.
Freerun Award Yuji Suzuki, SnowBoarder Award Daisuke Hosono, Snowstyle Award Shuhei Kikuchi
SupeRb Award Daiki Shimizu, TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING JAPAN Award Riki Masuda, SBN Award Hayato Totani
RAIL JAM on the slope below the hotel at night. A jam session with 26 riders participating and getting a lot of excitement.
In the waved rail, Yuji Suzuki, Vanivo, TJ and others fired 360 omissions.Yuji Suzuki, who left the rodeo at the end, is the BEST TRICK.
▲ Rail Jam: BEST JIBBER: # 8 JOE SEXTON
▲ Rail Jam: BEST TRICK: # 52 YUJI SUZUK
The down rail is a series of various performances that I can not remember the skill.The Joe section is BEST JIBBER with a make-up rate and a unique style.
▲ The prize money was ¥ 150,000 each, and Yuji Suzuki made a rough profit of ¥ 350,000 on that day.
The final round will be held on Sunday.
It snowed again from the morning.Moreover, there is no sign of stopping.
In the final round of 16 riders who have won the qualifying round, a 1on1 serious match will be held.
In this final round, the prize money is 1 million yen only for the 100st place. ALL or NOTING.In other words, it is inevitable that the 2nd and 3rd place will be incandescent because it is meaningless.
The match table is as follows.
▲ Chocolate vanilla ball Arai, marking the highest score following Atsushi Ishikawa
There are 1 games in the first round, 8 games in the quarterfinals, 4 games in the semifinals, and 2 game in the finals, for a total of 1 games.Among them, the best card was the match between Choco Vanilla Ball Arai and Takato Taniguchi in the third game of the first round.When Vanivo, the first player, scored 15 points, Takato, the second player, scored 1 points to lead. In the second run, Vanivo turned around with 3 points.Takato's second run, which has poor visibility, is unfortunately 225 points.The audience also heated up in this spectacular battle.
▲ Tyler Emmond torn in SUPER FINAL
In this final tournament, a small mistake will be an adversary.Meanwhile, Atsushi Ishikawa won the championship with almost no mistakes, marking the highest score of this tournament, 279 points, and winning the championship!The spectators who are watching do not feel like falling.Always stand.In particular, the completeness of the Switch B720 can be said to be perfect.
▲ Winner Atsushi Ishikawa
The weather was very unstable, but strangely, I was fortunate to have better visibility before and after Atsushi's turn.A man who also has heaven on his side.The word "luck is within your ability" is perfect.
The SLOPE held this time has an easy-to-understand composition of a tense game development on a compact course, and the excitement of the crowd packed up proved that.
I would like to expect the impact of this tournament on the future snow scene in Japan.
THE SLOPE
