Canadian riders rocked X-Games Fifteen

Canadian riders rocked X-Games Fifteen

CANADIAN RIDERS ROCK X-GAMES 15 IN ASPEN, COLORADO
Canadian riders grab seven medals

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Canadian snowboarders rocked X-Games Fifteen held in Aspen on the weekend, winning a total of seven medals in snowboard cross, slopestyle, big air and snowboard street.

Snowboard cross specialist and National team member Kevin Hill of Vernon, BC, won the silver medal in the spectacular men’s snowboard cross race. Hill, the National champion in the discipline, is a rising star in men’s snowboard cross, improving week after week on the international scene. François Boivin finished ninth, Chris Robanske 12th, Rob Fagan 13th.

Dominique Maltais of Petite-Rivière-St-François, QC, the current World Cup leader, crashed early in the finals, allowing American rider Lindsey Jacobellis to easily ride to a fourth consecutive gold medal at X-Games competition. Maltais, undefeated so far this season on the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Tour, went on to finish in sixth position.

In the freestyle disciplines, all eyes were turned to young snowboard sensation Sebastien Toutant, aka Seb Toots, of L’Assomption, QC, who took the gold medal in the men’s slopestyle and silver in the Men’s big air contest.

Toots impressed the judges and the record-breaking crowd by scoring an impressive 93 points in his first of three runs. Toots was followed by another Canadian rider, Mark McMorris of Regina, who finished second with 90 points. The two Canadians were all by themselves at the top, with a full 8 points separating the second and third place.

Toots is having an impressive contest season to date, winning the TTR big air in Beijing, the TTR slopestyle in Davos and the FIS big air contest in Stockholm. He is currently ranked sixth in the TTR World Ranking.

In the women’s Halfpipe, Sarah Conrad of Halifax placed fifteenth with 27 points in the elimination rounds. The contest will be best remembered as the one where American rider Kelly Clark became the first ever woman to land a 1080 in a contest.

Spencer O’Brien of North Vancouver finished tenth in the Women’s slopestyle contest.

In the snowboard street contest, Canadian riders swept the podium with Nic Sauvé of Québec, QC taking the gold medal followed by Louis-Félix Paradis, another Québec snowboarder. Simon Chamberlain of North Vancouver, BC placed third.

Partnering with the Adaptive Action Sports (AAS), the X-Games also featured for the first time the sport of para-snowboard, as an exhibition event. Two Canadian riders took part in ground breaking event: Tyler Mosher and Ian Lockey.

All competitions took place on Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen, Colorado.