A sunny morning in Tignes Val Claret presided over the Women's Slopestyle finals, where it saw Kaya Turski win her second straight X Games gold medal this year, Keri Herman win her second straight silver medal and Ashley Battersby win her first X Games medal, taking bronze. The eight women tackled the long and demanding course with a certain amount of zeal, but in the end, Kaya's run was just too much for the rest of the field. Kaya's X Games medal percentage is now 100-percent (3-for-3 for those who care. Two golds and a bronze). Kaya's winning: 270 on 270 off, switch 360, switch on forward off, 720, 540, switch 540, rainbox rail to switch, switch 720. Keri Herman spun a bit less, but grabbed the hell out of her left and right 360s and 540s, and she was the only female to utilize the flat-down rail at the top of the course. Ashley also 270ed onto the top box to switch 360 to switch on the flat bar that Kaya did. Ashley's 540s and switch 720 at the bottom of the course were good enough for a bronze medal for the Utah-resident.
Anna Segal, the 2009 X Games gold medalist, was the only lady to go inverted today with her lincoln loop, sideflip-esque trick on the first jump. Lena Stoffel, a relatively unknown to the greater audience outside of Europe, had a mean 540 to switch 540 combo, and attempted a misty flip on the bottom hit, but came up a little short. Watch out for Lena to drop the misty on more comps in the future. Grete Eliassen had trouble with her 450s off the 2nd rail all three runs, but was throwing down stylish 360 noses, 720s and 900s on the bottom air, the only competitor to do so today. Sarah Burke, who was unsure if she was going to compete this morning, as she has Superpipe finals later, laid down a nice mellow run, which had some nice 360 mutes. Later on her run she was adding in some 720s, unfortunately going down on some very large 180s later in those runs. Rosalind Groenewoud, who also has Superpipe finals this afternoon, looked to tweak her back a little on a 360 in her first run and opted to not take her 2nd and 3rd runs. Fortunately, we will see Roz G tackle the superpipe with plenty of gusto later this afternoon.
The ladies saw the mean course and straight attacked it, as the level of women's slopestyle is steadily progressing. Tignes Val Claret has been conquered by the ladies, see you next time. Later this afternoon, stay tuned for the men's slopestyle finals and women's superpipe finals.
Note: There is no medals photo as of yet, as there has been no medals ceremony. Due to the nature of their being 3 finals today, medals ceremonies photos will be added later.
