Been really enjoying the tour the last few years. A couple observations.
The duels qualifying format besides Leanne losing to Hailey all went to the defending champion. Seems like the zones were unfairly familiar to most of the riders minus Trav and Red. Maybe randomize venues to level the playing field?
Been really enjoying the tour the last few years. A couple observations.
The duels qualifying format besides Leanne losing to Hailey all went to the defending champion. Seems like the zones were unfairly familiar to most of the riders minus Trav and Red. Maybe randomize venues to level the playing field?
The judging seems to be favoring Travis heavily the last two years. After rewatching this years finals with Mikkel and Travis there seems to be a serious consensus with the general shred community that Mikkels run was technically more difficult and following the CREDO score Bang should have taken it. At a minimum it should have went to sudden death super finals. Lets see less favoritism and bias next year.
Finally AK is the pinnacle of snowboarding and the Finals should always be in AK. Hopefully in SE AK at some point.
"After rewatching this years finals with Mikkel and Travis there seems to be a serious consensus with the general shred community that Mikkels run was technically more difficult"
Ok, I'll break it down as I saw it... Mikkel's first run in finals was definitely a throw away, I don't think there is any debate there. Ultimately what we're looking at is Travis' first run vs. Mikkel's second. Those two were close, so let's analyze.
Travis' run 1 in finals: air into the line off the cornice, front 1, switch back 1, straight drop, double drop at the bottom with a quick fall. Much bigger line overall with a lot more features linked together, ridden with speed and control. The whole top section of the line is 100% fresh territory till he links into the last feature on Elena's line. Scores an 80, lots of space to improve but with only 2 riders in the finals the judges left lots of space.
Mikkel's run 2 in finals: initially burns a lot of vertical just getting into his line, riding pretty smooth but conservative the whole way down the ridge. If you look in the background you can actually see Travis' line, and he's 3 tricks deep into his line before Mikkel even fully drops into the face. First trick is the front 3 with the scrub/fall, where he did the straight air on run 1. Definitely some loss of control after the 3 getting into the next feature. Back 1 to finish the line, on the same feature where he fell on the back 3 in run 1. Scores a 78, really close to Travis but not quite there.
Breaking it down further, just looking at CREDO.
Creativity: Gotta go with Travis on this one. Mikkel's whole line for run 2 was a repeat of his first run, with some tweaks to the tricks but not the placement of the tricks in the line.
Risk: Travis again. Rode with more speed, did more tricks higher in the line, with more exposure below. Onsighted the whole thing, where Mikkel repeated a line.
Execution: really close here. Always hard when you're judging two lines with falls in them, but Travis looked way more solid on his feet for the whole run till the quick fall at the bottom. Mikkel had some speed control issues between the 3 and the back 1.
Difficulty: Probably Mikkel, just on trick selection. Front three / back 1, vs. air, front 1, swb 1, then two technical drops. Close, but Mikkel takes this criteria.
Overall: Travis. I think if you saw the face in person and saw where the lines were on the face, anybody would agree. This is always something that will be hard to translate to the viewer at home, and something we've actually been working on (run tracking in real time so you can see where riders are going).
At the end, we're talking 2 points of separation, which is super close!
Mikkel 100% killed it in quarters against Ben, and Semis against Craven. Standout rider of the day for sure, and probably one of my favorite riders on the whole tour to watch ride. I think a lot of people felt that way, and that clouds the vibe for finals... BUT, if you break it down just based on the two runs that actually matter, it is pretty clear to me that Travis still won, but not by much.
Hey Liam and Matt,
Been really enjoying the tour the last few years. A couple observations.
The duels qualifying format besides Leanne losing to Hailey all went to the defending champion. Seems like the zones were unfairly familiar to most of the riders minus Trav and Red. Maybe randomize venues to level the playing field?
The judging seems to be favoring Travis heavily the last two years. After rewatching this years finals with Mikkel and Travis there seems to be a serious consensus with the general shred community that Mikkels run was technically more difficult and following the CREDO score Bang should have taken it. At a minimum it should have went to sudden death super finals. Lets see less favoritism and bias next year.
Finally AK is the pinnacle of snowboarding and the Finals should always be in AK. Hopefully in SE AK at some point.
Much respect!
"After rewatching this years finals with Mikkel and Travis there seems to be a serious consensus with the general shred community that Mikkels run was technically more difficult"
Ok, I'll break it down as I saw it... Mikkel's first run in finals was definitely a throw away, I don't think there is any debate there. Ultimately what we're looking at is Travis' first run vs. Mikkel's second. Those two were close, so let's analyze.
Travis' run 1 in finals: air into the line off the cornice, front 1, switch back 1, straight drop, double drop at the bottom with a quick fall. Much bigger line overall with a lot more features linked together, ridden with speed and control. The whole top section of the line is 100% fresh territory till he links into the last feature on Elena's line. Scores an 80, lots of space to improve but with only 2 riders in the finals the judges left lots of space.
Mikkel's run 2 in finals: initially burns a lot of vertical just getting into his line, riding pretty smooth but conservative the whole way down the ridge. If you look in the background you can actually see Travis' line, and he's 3 tricks deep into his line before Mikkel even fully drops into the face. First trick is the front 3 with the scrub/fall, where he did the straight air on run 1. Definitely some loss of control after the 3 getting into the next feature. Back 1 to finish the line, on the same feature where he fell on the back 3 in run 1. Scores a 78, really close to Travis but not quite there.
Breaking it down further, just looking at CREDO.
Creativity: Gotta go with Travis on this one. Mikkel's whole line for run 2 was a repeat of his first run, with some tweaks to the tricks but not the placement of the tricks in the line.
Risk: Travis again. Rode with more speed, did more tricks higher in the line, with more exposure below. Onsighted the whole thing, where Mikkel repeated a line.
Execution: really close here. Always hard when you're judging two lines with falls in them, but Travis looked way more solid on his feet for the whole run till the quick fall at the bottom. Mikkel had some speed control issues between the 3 and the back 1.
Difficulty: Probably Mikkel, just on trick selection. Front three / back 1, vs. air, front 1, swb 1, then two technical drops. Close, but Mikkel takes this criteria.
Overall: Travis. I think if you saw the face in person and saw where the lines were on the face, anybody would agree. This is always something that will be hard to translate to the viewer at home, and something we've actually been working on (run tracking in real time so you can see where riders are going).
At the end, we're talking 2 points of separation, which is super close!
Mikkel 100% killed it in quarters against Ben, and Semis against Craven. Standout rider of the day for sure, and probably one of my favorite riders on the whole tour to watch ride. I think a lot of people felt that way, and that clouds the vibe for finals... BUT, if you break it down just based on the two runs that actually matter, it is pretty clear to me that Travis still won, but not by much.