The Superpipe will never be the same after what Kevin Rolland did to it last night. Kevin didn't just make the pipe his bitch, he absolutely destroyed the thing. As we've seen time and time again at X Games, the level of progression was through the roof and Kevin was leading the charge. With a score of 95.00, he handily defeated Jossi Wells by three points while simultaneously leaving a large portion of the greater-Aspen community boggled by his run.
Kevin Rolland only needed five hits in the monster pipe this year to take gold. Whiskey flip mute grab to alle oop flatspin 360 to switch 720 to rightside whiskey flip to double cork 1260 to blowing the minds of the judges. Very few times has a run with two doubles been tried, let alone stomped and Rolland goes ahead and puts three in his run. For all the math wizards out there, 3/5 or 60% of his run was doubled. Watch out for France because the high flying Rolland has just thrown the book out the window. Taking second was New Zealand's Jossi Wells who put together increasingly higher and more stylish airs. His 900 to right 900 to whiskey flip to right 720 to switch 720 shifty to alley oop flatspin 540 to 1080 was technical, stylish, stomped, beautiful, smooth, and so many more things. Coming in third was Xavier Bertoni, whose run was technical and big, but not quite as smooth as the kiwi. Whiskey flip to left 900 to right 900 to alley oop flatspin 360 to switch right 720 to 1260. The Flying Frenchman has earned his moniker once again, getting so boosty they should create an Axe Body Spray ad for him.
Narrowly missing the podium was Simon Dumont. Simon has not missed the podium in the last six X Games, so tonight was sort of an end to a dynasty. While he was boosting as usual, it seemed as though something was off all night. His 900 to right 900 to whiskey flip (gorilla style, Jane Goodall would be proud) to alley oop 720 to switch 1080 just wasn't quite big enough or smooth enough for the judges to put him in the top 3. While definitely odd to be missing Simon from the podium, no doubt the house of Dumont will be back at the next event. Duncan Adams, relative newcomer to the X Games, put down three increasingly more flawless and unique runs to take 5th in his sophomore appearance here at X. Air-to-fakie, switch straight air, switch alley oop 540, 900, right 720, switch 900 was Duncan's run that might get judged low but is completely his own and in one word, perfection. Duncan looked so comfortable riding transition last night, it was eery. Tucker Perkins who suffered a crash on his double first run, managed to pull a run together to grab that 6th spot. He had the highest amplitude of the contest on his first hit flare, hovering around 20 feet. Colby West crashed his first run as well, but came back with a solid run that included a 720 to switch alley oop 540 to 1080 to switch alley oop 720 combo. But no doubles in the run seemed to be keeping West at the back of the pack. Local boy Peter Olenick fell all three runs, the first and the third on his alley oop double flatspin. But his 2nd run showed big time potential: Alley Oop double flatpsin, 900, right 900 to whiskey flip to alley oop flatpsin to 1080. Unfortunately, he crashed on his cruise-control trick, the alley oop flatpsin. Backseat into the wall, Pete just couldn't hold on and got bucked onto the deck. But with a run like that, we'll be seeing more of Pete in very positive lights in the future.
The fine folks in Aspen, CO got to witness Ski Superpipe history last night. Kevin Rolland decisively winning gold, with a run that is uncontested as first. X Games has once again delivered as the biggest stage in skiing and the riders stepped up to the call. A great week in the pipe, we'll see you next year in Aspen.
