The world's top-ranked freestyle snowboarders battled it out under picture-perfect blue skies at Snow Park yesterday for the second of four snowboarding events, the snowboard slopestyle.
A 1260 mute manoeuvre helped earn Norway's Torgeir Bergrem the gold medal in the men's competition, while world No 1 Jamie Anderson, of the United States, won the women's title.
A heavyweight men's field of 60 riders, including world No 1 Roope Tonteri, of Finland, competed in two qualifying heats for the top 16 spots. With two runs per round, competitors faced a set of three rails followed by a choice of canon rail or tractor tyre, 40/50 jump, 60/70 jump and the butter box at the bottom of the course.
Bergrem's winning run, which scored 91.2, was made up of a switch backside 270, cab 1260 mute, backside double cork 1080 mute grab and frontside 180, finishing with a cab 540 mute.
Antoine Truchon, of Canada, was second, and Maxence Parrot, also of Canada, placed third.
Bergrem, competing in his first Winter Games, said he felt "really good" on the course, despite a 6am start to the competition day.
"It was amazing. The course was perfect, the weather was nice and a lot of my friends were here, so it couldn't have been better," he said.
"I fell on my first run of the final, so I was nervous dropping into my second run.
"I think it [his win] might have been that I threw a 1260 on the first jump, because no-one else did that."
In women's final, four of the world's top 10 took on the course. Anderson lived up to expectations winning with a huge score of 94.60, nearly 10 full points ahead of sec-ond place-getter Charlotte Van Gils, of Holland. New Zealand rider Rebecca Torr, of Te Puke, finished third.
Anderson's winning run featured a backside lipslide, frontside 270, cab 360 mute grab, switch backside 540 and a backside 180.
She said she "couldn't be happier" after her gold medal performance in the event, in which she finished second at the last Winter Games.
"It was a goal of mine to win it this time," she said.
"The weather and conditions were amazing today. The girls were throwing them down, inspiring me to pull out my best technical skills on the rails."
Anderson said she was focusing primarily on slopestyle this season and letting halfpipe take a back seat.
"I've just been having more fun in the park."
Wanaka rider Milu Multhaup-Appleton showed strength in heat two, when he demonstrated real technical ability on the rails followed by a cab 9 to front 9. He finished 15th in the final.
Wanaka's Abby Lockhart recovered well going into the women's final, after a difficult first run, but failed to reach the podium, placing fourth overall.
"The competition was outstanding today, with a great level of riding," head judge Iztok Sumatic said.
"It's the first dual sanctioned event between TTR and FIS since the sport's inclusion in the Winter Olympics, a huge step for the sport and something I'm very happy to be a part of. It's like two families coming together."
Snowboard slopestyle will make its debut at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The Winter Games snowboarding continues this Wednesday with the snowboard big air at Cardrona, and on Saturday with the snowboard halfpipe.
