Featured Image: Red Bull Content Pool/ Samo Vidic
Last week, the world’s best slopestyle skiers convened in the streets of Bad Gastein in Austria for the eighth annual Red Bull PlayStreets. 16 athletes from nine continents made it to the final round of the urban slopestyle competition, which takes competitors through and over the streets of the iconic ski town, laying down their best tricks in front of a 15,000-person crowd lined up along the entire course.
Swedish freeskier Jesper Tjäder returned to defend his 2017 title–the competition took a hiatus in 2018–but it was two-time Olympic medalist Nick Goepper who claimed the crown, throwing down a smooth-as-butter double on the quarter pipe, a 270 on to the first rail feature, a 360 off the Suzuki road gap, a flat spin over the hip feature to a rodeo over the volcano feature before entering the final rail section with two switch 270s, earning a final score of 164.
Tjäder’s run, incorporating a massive double on the quarter pipe, 450 off the first rail feature, right side 360 off the road gap, a 450 on the first bottom rail and a 360 onto the final rail with another 90-degree rotation coming off, landed him five points behind Goepper. Fellow Swede, Oscar Wester, rounded out the podium with a massive flat spin 540 off the quarter pipe, a switch 540 off the hip feature into the post box and a 360 off the road gap.
Watch the video, above, for highlights of all three podium runs.
