So with what seemed like a pretty short build up, the Winter X Games kicked off pretty quickly with superpipe and slopestyle getting everyone’s attention on the slopes. With spectators stopping in the middle of a run in Tignes, much to the annoyance of every middle-class skier that didn’t want to be involved in anything that us ‘whipper-snappers’ get up to, you can imagine that the riding was as jaw-dropping as everyone had expected it to be.

It would take me a decade to properly talk about every event, riders competing in them and everything in between, so I’ll just talk about a few people in particular before you watch all the highlights we have below.
First up – Kevin Rolland. I’m only bringing up the French shredder because, personally, I thought he was pretty much done for the season. He’d be struggling for form after returning from injury and I’d already written him off for the X Games but he definitely surprised! It seems that I shouldn’t have shut off my faith in the Frenchman as he managed to qualify first in the superpipe and also managed to take the bronze medal in the final.

Another notable performance was from Iouri Podladtchikov in the men’s snowboard superpipe finals. If any of you managed to catch it, you’d have seen a ridiculous performance that left me questioning my very existence. A bit dramatic, I agree, but his run was insane. After failing to stomp the landing in the competition, he came to his final run and STOMPED the ‘yolo flip’. All he had to do after that was a clean 540 but he was so amped on what he’d just done that he nailed himself on the next flip and ended up in fourth. Not only that but he was so happy that he threw his helmet, goggle and his board into the crowd! Definitely worth a watch!

So here we go. All the edits from the European Winter X Games 2013 from Tignes.

With the first event of the 2013 global expansions completed, X Games returns to the centre stage in France with X Games Tignes, March 20-22. And as we turn our heads to see what’s going on we’ll soon see that they’ve announced the schedule and a few more riders! Want to know who? Thought so…

Snow: Mark McMorris, Iouri Podladtchikov, Louie Vit, Torstein Horgmo, Kelly Clark, Jamie Anderson, Elena Hight, Torah Bright, Shaun White and rookes Arielle Gold, Yuki Kadono and Max Parrot.

Ski: David Wise, Kevin Rolland, Thomas Krief, Anais Caradeux, Torin Yater-Wallace, Bobby Brown, Tom Wallisch, Nick Goepper, James Woods, Kaya Turski and Maddie Bowman.

All the athletes are here if you want a full list!
http://xgames.tignes.net/en/competitions/athletes-1119.html

The event will feature eight different events for men and women over three days, including Ski and Snowboard SuperPipe and Slopestyle.

Schedule highlights include:
„Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th : training
„Tuesday 19th : X Games Tignes 2013 opening press conference
„Wednesday 20th : Two Women’s finals:
- 1pm – Women’s Ski Slopestyle Final
- 6:30pm – Men’s Snowboard SuperPipe Eliminations
- 8:30pm – Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe Final

Press information February 14th 2013

„Thursday 21st :
- 1pm – Men’s Ski Slopestyle Final
- 6:30pm – Women’s Snowboard SuperPipe Final
- 8:30pm ­‐ Men’s Ski SuperPipe Eliminations
„Friday 22nd : 4 finals
- Men’s (10:30am) and Women’s (1pm) Snowboard Slopestyle Finals
- Men’s (6:30 pm) and Women’s (8 :30pm) Ski SuperPipe Finals

Are you lot ready for it?

When this was mentioned to me I was wondering who would be called out as the skater that successfully landed this. Your mind runs through the crazier of the skaters out there and then it wanders over to Tony Hawk (he hasn’t landed anything bigger than a 720 for years) and perhaps Shaun White. They’ve been making a mark on the industry for years so it could be one of them…

Nope. It was neither of them. Which isn’t actually too surprising. As I’ve spoken to many people before, the youngsters in our sports are coming through a bit too fast these days so it’s pretty standard practise for something as ridiculous as this to be claimed by a youngster… which it was.
Skating at the MegaRamp at Woodward West in Tehachapi, California was 12-year-old Tom Schaar. With a Red Bull presence helping create the mega ramp (it wouldn’t be something ridiculous without the help of Red Bull!) he takes a few tries to get it down. There’s also another kid trying it as well but seeing as he didn’t land it, he’ll soon be forgotten within the depths of the internet.

Enough of my jabbering though! Here’s the story behind the epic spin from the boy himself.

Tom Schaar 2012 1080

There’s still some time to go before we see the world’s first 1800 in skateboarding. Something we’ve already seen in the ski world from Torin Yater-Wallace.

There have been rumours about it on the internet for a couple of days and we can confirm that it’s true. Torin Yater-Wallace stomped the first 1800 in competition while competing at the US Freeskiing Gran Prix. It’s no mean feat as it’s 5 360′s in the air while you still have to keep an eye out for your landing!
Torin is one of the brightest talents in the skiing world right now and one of the most prolific as well. He’s claimed a Winter Dew Tour medal, claimed a Winter X Games medal in his first season and managed to get another this year!

So that was it. I know it wasn’t the best quality and it seems like there was a small crowd to witness it but that was the 1800. Impressive huh? But it still raises the question of spin vs style. This is something we’ve been chatting about at Mpora HQ for a while now and it’s a battle that will never be won. With snowboarding and skiing being dominated by the amount of turns you need to win a competition, can it not be more about style than spins? It’s going to be an argument that will continue for as long as the sport remains but where do you stand on it?

Taking nothing away from young Torin Yater-Wallace and his 1800, it’s pretty impressive.