TIGNES, France (Mar. 15) – Bobby Brown (Breckenridge, CO) took European X Games gold with an impressive technical and consistent slopestyle run. Tom Wallisch (Pittsburgh) came in second with his usual multiple rotations and difficult rail combinations. After a season of first place finishes for Walllisch and two podiums for Brown, the Breckenridge athlete broke through to the top.
HIGHLIGHTS
- U.S. Freeskiing athletes Bobby Brown (Breckenridge, CO) and Tom Wallisch (Pittsburgh) went 1-2 in the European X Games slopestyle competition.
- It was Brown’s third podium of the season and his first, first place podium of the 2011/2012 season.
- Brown’s second run won: switch 270 gap to down pretzel 270 out, switch on 450 off, frontside side surface switch up to backside 270 out, right double cork 1080 high mute grab, left double cork 1260 revert tail grab, switch left double cork 1260 mute grab, and sealed the deal with a misty 450 Japan grab over the gap rail. Brown gave Wallisch a run for his money on the rails with great execution and variation.
- Wallisch’s second place run went like this: switch on backside switch up to 630 out, frontside 270 out, switch lip slide 270 on to 270 out, leftside double cork 1260 high mute grab to switch right side double rodeo 1080 Japan grab, to switch left double rodeo 1080 Japan grab, and a switch 270 on pretzel 630 out. His execution was not as precise as Brown’s and it earned him a score of 93.33.
- Nick Goepper was in sixth with an 88.33, Joss Christensen ended up in seventh with an 86.3.
- The top five all scored in the 90’s making for an extremely tough competition.
- Next up for the freeskiers is tomorrow evening’s men's and women’s final halfpipe competition.
QUOTES
Bobby Brown
Between Tom’s and my runs the scores could have gone first or second really easily and the judges gave it to me this time. He’s had an amazing season and to end with another second place is pretty unreal.
My first run I laid down the run I wanted to do. The second run I added a misty 450 on the last rail and on my last run I did a switch double misty 12 with a switch double cork 12, that was a trick that I did in the 2010 X Games in Aspen. I tried it, but didn’t get a good score on it because I missed my grab but I was stoked to be able to add this into my run.
The course was super cool with three jumps and ending with a rail, it usually doesn’t happen like that, to change it up and make it unique. I like hitting jumps and Tom is amazing at hitting jumps and even better at rails. This course tailored to what I like, big jumps!
Tom Wallisch
This competition today was insane. The backdrop in Tignes is so photogenic, I love it out here. This year’s X Games has been the best they have had - sunny all week, a good course with speed for everything. Going into finals I felt good, I was definitely excited with three runs the pressure is off a little bit. You get a chance to warm up to it and get a couple tries.
I landed my first run which is always good and Bobby was in front of me, but being second place going into the final run, there’s not a better place to be. So happy to already be on the podium, it was pretty mellow the whole day. It’s not like those scary times when you have to come from behind all the way up to the podium and get all stressed out and scared.
It was amazing to watch Bobby. Every slopestyle contest Bobby is somebody that I worry about and I know he is going to be throwing it down hard. I have been getting lucky this season with good courses that have worked out in my favor. Just watching Bobby today, he laid three runs down today that all scored higher than my second place run, he was just on fire! He was doing everything he set out to do and it was awesome to watch. He deserved it and it’s great to see him on top of the podium and I am glad to be there with him and Andreas.
RESULTS
Official Results
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