Week one of the 2013/14 Fantasy Freeride season is in the books after this past weekend’s Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships in Breckenridge, Colorado.
Fantasy players were perhaps most disappointed in the performances of Torin Yater-Wallace, Henrik Harlaut, and Gus Kenworthy. Yater-Wallace took a nasty spill during practice for men’s pipe finals, suffering two broken ribs and a collapsed lung, and was unable to compete. At the time of injury, Torin was owned by 79.08% of FFL players, but his absence from finals totaled him zero Fantasy points. Harlaut failed to get out of the qualifiers for men’s slopestyle, an unfortunate result for the 71.03% of players who owned E-Dollo at the time of competition. Kenworthy, despite competing in both halfpipe and slopestyle, failed to receive any points from the Dew Tour, thanks to a 13th place finish in superpipe and 14th place finish in slopestyle. Despite not living up to his owners’ ultra high expectations, most are sticking with him, as (currently) 62.50% of players are still holding onto Gus heading into this weekend’s Grand Prix at Copper Mountain.
Beau-James Wells, men’s superpipe practice at Dew Tour. Photo by Henrik Lampert.
On to the Fantasy winners from Dew Tour: Anyone who had Devin Logan on their team chose wisely, as the 21-year-old claimed a sixth place finish in superpipe, and a first place finish in slopestyle, giving her a total of 144 Fantasy points, by far the top scorer for the event. The remaining winners, Nick Goepper in men’s slopestyle, David Wise in men’s superpipe, and Maddie Bowman in women’s superpipe, each received a total of 100 points.
Moving forward into this weekend’s Grand Prix at Copper, skiers that Fantasy players may want to consider picking up include Lyman Currier, Aaron Blunck, Øystein Bråten, Beau-James Wells, McRae Williams, Brita Sigourney, Angeli Vanlaanen, and Maggie Voisin. Currier is only owned by 3.05% of Fantasy players, yet scored a third place finish at superpipe and only 7.35% of players own Blunck, who took home second place in superpipe; 18-year-old Øystein Bråten, owned by 6.41% of players had an impressive showing in slopestyle at Dew Tour, qualifying fourth on Thursday, but falling a bit short in finals. Look for Bråten to continue to go big as the season moves forward. Beau-James Wells picked up 52 Fantasy points at Dew Tour thanks to a 10th place finish in superpipe, and is only owned by 1.42% of players. Park City’s McRae Williams picked up a 9th place finish and 27 Fantasy points at Dew Tour, and despite a bum shoulder, will look to build upon that at Grand Prix.
McRae Williams, men’s slopestyle practice at Dew Tour. Photo by Henrik Lampert.
On the women’s side, Angeli Vanlaanen and Brita Sigourney are only owned by 1.63% and 4.20% of Fantasy players, respectively, and the duo finished second and third in women’s superpipe. Maggie Voisin qualified first in women’s slopestyle and took home third place in the final, along with 72 Fantasy points, but is only owned by 3.62% of all players.
Hold on to skiers like Nick Goepper, Devin Logan, David Wise, and Maddie Bowman, who will all remain favorites to podium in their given disciplines.
Trading for the Copper Grand Prix closes tonight at midnight. Good luck to all the Fantasy players out there, and stay tuned for more Fantasy insight following this first stop of the 2013/14 Grand Prix.
