Canada’s biggest snowboard contest, the World Snowboard Tour 5-Star Monster Energy Shred Show finished off with a bang Saturday night as Max Parrot stomps the triple dipper.

Canadian Max Parrot who was an X-Games silver medalist in slopestyle earlier this year stomped a backside triple cork 12 to beat out the competition. “I was kinda nervous, I tried it in practice and didn’t land it, but with the pressure and the good crowd, everything came around and I stomped it perfectly so I was pretty happy!” said a triumphant Max just after receiving his winning cheque and crown.

The field of competitors didn’t make it easy for him though. The 10-man final was stacked with talent like last year’s winner Darcy Sharpe, The Shred Show Slopestyle winner Emil Ulsletten, and a host of perennial jump slayers like Sage Kotsenburg and Eric Willett. Ultimately though it was American Justin Morgan who ended up in third spot with his switch backside double cork 1080 and Kim Rune Hansen from Norway took second with a switch back 12. The level of riding was the best Canada has ever seen and The Monster Energy Shred Show continues to grow in stature in the international contest scene.

The slopestyle podium.

Last Friday marked the wrap up of the Monster Energy Shred Show Slopestyle, the first Canadian 5Star World Snowboard Tour event of the 2013-2014 season. Weather made it difficult for riders to fully utilize the massive Slopestyle course located in the Blackcomb terrain park. As the day went on, the weather cleared up enough for riders to throw down some impressive runs to try and claim the $15000 top prize.

With an 84.50 it was Norway’s Emil Ulsletten who was atop the podium. His run consisted of a blunt 270 on the down rail, 50/50 frontside 360 with a tuck knee grab on the step down, a frontside double 10 on the first kicker, a backside 360, and a back 9 to cab double 9 on the last feature. Ulsletten Qualified in 10th place with a 68.8; just sneaking into the finals.

In second was Eric Willett from the USA with an 83.33. Willett’s run consisted of a front 270 on the down rail, a boardslide front 270 on the Pole, a front double 10 to front board to fakie out on the rail, and a switch- back 9 to back 7 on the last jump.
Willett won the 6Star Billabong Air & Style Innsbruck earlier this season.

Tyler Nicholson from Ontario, Canada was able to round off the podium. He did a Gap front board on the down flat down, a nose tail 450 off, a cab double 10 on the first jump, a switch tail 450 on the up rail. On the second jump he did a back 10 double to a front 10 on the last jump. His run scored him a 78.33.

The Snowboarding Action will continue tomorrow night in the heart of the village with the Monster Energy Shred Show Big Air. Accompanied with live music on the main stage, this event will no doubt have the largest crowd of the festival. Make sure to watch the live scoring at http://live.eim-solutions.com/mss2013

Emil Ulsletten: “ The jumps and rails were really, really good, but the weather made it tough to complete a whole run, it was really fun. I am really really happy! This year has not been the best for me for contests, I needed this one!”

Eric Willett: “The Slopestyle course was good, we definitely had to deal with some interesting weather all day but it worked out, finals turned out really good, it was a bit slushy but that’s that springtime is all about. I am stoked on my run and am glad I ended up on the podium. “

Tyler Nicholson: “This slope contest is by far the best I have ever entered, just because of the organization was so good, it was more based on what the rider’s wanted, they were willing to switch it up if we didn’t like it. The course is just unreal, the jumps were so good and the rails were Gnarly.”

SLOPESTYLE RESULTS:
1. Emil Ulsletten 84.50
2. Eric Willett 83.33
3. Tyler Nicholson 78.33
4. Spencer Link 73.50
5. Maxence Parrot 72.50
6. Eric Beauchemin 66.83
7. Brett Moody 58.83
8. Jeremy Thompson 46.33
9. Jon Versteeg 37.17
10. Charles Reid 15.00

Beside the 5Star Slope event was also held a Big Air competition, and here’s the podium.

BIG AIR RESULTS: 

1. Maxence parrot

2. Kim Rune HAnsen

3. Justin Morgan

To follow the World Snowboard Tour 2013-2014 season visit: www.worldsnowboardtour.com

Max Parrot puts down a bunch of stunts on a backyard jib setup that are so sick he could very well have caught bird flu. If you like tech park jibbing you’ll love this…

It’s not just Denis Leontyev who owns the right to produce super tech jib edits on small park rails. Max Parrot weighs in with a raw yet heavy clip from some backyard rope tow dubbed the Maximise.

With his fast toe rope, you can do 3 laps every minutes at Maximise. Maxence got this filmed in 3 hours of fast lapping. Maximise will be open again next year with a 30 foot jumps beside the toe rope. It is located close to St-Sauveur, contact Max Henault on facebook for more info.

Filmed by: Will Gignac

Clearly we’re massive dicks as these Canadian dudes have apparently made 201 other webisodes and we never even noticed. Enjoy the When in Whistler crew’s 202nd edit, which includes a bunch of pow and a triple something-or-other from Max Parrot. Is it a triple cork? Hm, more like a 90-to-triple-backie-90-out but holy hot damn, the commitment! Boom!

After the triple-festing madness of the dudes’ Big Air there was no letup in the slopestyle. Once again, it looked like video games need to step up as the real world riders are doing things that you’d struggle with on your Xbox. Doubles mixed with triples were the norm, and Mark McMorris walked away with the title thanks to his last run that detonated over Aspen and scored a huge 98 points. It was also nice to see that despite not even coming close and their supposed ‘beef’, Shaun White was sporting enough to congratulate Mark on his win. In the women’s, Jamie Anderson once again continued her domination of female slopestyle riding, following up tree hugging with another display of silky smooth steeze. Sochi will be stupid.

MEN

1ST – MARK MCMORRIS

2ND – MAX PARROT

3RD – SEPPE SMITS

WOMEN

1ST – JAMIE ANDERSON

2ND – SARKA PANCOCHOVA

3RD – SPENCER O’BRIEN

Maxence Parrot & Kyle Mack in O’NEILL EVOLUTION 2013 – WATCH WINNING VIDEOS

Our minds were blown when these two groms put down to of the craziest tricks ever performed in competitive snowboarding. Now for the first time: The perpetual animated GIF versions of Maxence’s and Kyle’s tricks.

Halldor Helgason in McMorris Tops X Games 2013 Slopestyle Qualifiers

Mark McMorris might have come out on top of the X Games Slopestyle qualification, but Halldor got the fist of nuff respect from noneother than Shaun White. How he did not come in first we do not know.

You liked these? Check out our other animated GIFs!

The trash talking seems to have worked as Mark McMorris qualified in first spot for the X Games 2013 Slopestyle finals in Aspen, with Shaun White sneaking through in 7th. Watch the top 3 runs…

Ahead of this elimination round of X Games slope style, talk had been concentrated on the fact that Shaun White had been trying out the triple in training, while Mark McMorris had been laying his opinions about Shaun’s riding on the line. Well, McMorris stepped up to the plate and knocked a solid, yet for him safe, run out to slide into the finals in first. Shaun, erm, didn’t. But we wouldn’t rule him out just yet as his seventh place was good enough for him to have another stab at it when finals roll around.

[Never discount Peetu Piiroinen when things get serious. He made it through in 2nd with this belter.]

With some names you’d expect to see at the business end of a big contest like this failing to make the cut – notably Torstein Horgmo, Seb Toutant and Sage Kotsenburg – and others (like Halldor Helgason and Ulrik Badertscher) whose mentality is “first or last” coming closer to the latter, it was down to the reliable Peetu Piiroinen to send it into second, followed up by Canadian Max Parrot – fresh from his triple-stomping win at the O’Neill Evolution – in third.

[Max Parrot's run was good enough for 3rd in the qualifiers. And slopestyle snowboarding has gone bananas.]

The field of 16 riders was thus chopped down to eight who will go at it again in slopestyle finals on Saturday. Here’s the full list of who’s in, and who’s out. Oh, by the way, this video here is way better than all those above. We need more snowboarders like Halldor…

Elimination Results And Scores

1. Mark McMorris: 88.66

2. Peetu Piiroinen: 81.33

3. Max Parrot: 75.66

4. Seppe Smits: 72.00

5. Chas Guldemond: 70.00

6. Aleksander Oestreng: 68.66

7. Shaun White: 67.33

8. Gjermund Braaten: 62.00

—

9. Roope Tonteri: 46.66

10. Sebastien Toutant: 43.66

11. Stale Sandbench: 33.33

12. Halldor Helgason: 20.00

13. Torstein Horgmo: 19.66

13. Sage Kotsenburg: 19.66

14. Ulrik Badertscher: 14.00

15. Eric Willett: 10.00

You’ll no doubt have peeped the shots and read our blow-by-blow account of the madness at Saturday night’s O’Neill Evolution Big Air, but as they say: if it ain’t on video it didn’t happen. It is; it did. Watch Maxence Parrot’s winning backside triple cork 1440, Kyle Mack’s frontside triple 14, and the front double 10 of Emil Ulsletten. Oof.

Maxence Parrot on his way to stomping the most perfect backside 144o triple cork ever seen. Photo: Burrows.

Maxence Parrot lands triple cork 1440 to win the 6-Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos.

Max Parrot putting down a back 12 dub in training. Photo: Burrows.

Mind. Blown. Yesterday we mentioned how the absence of a raft of big name kicker specialists could have affected the quality of this contest. Bullshit. The riding was monumental and not only did Parrot put down the most textbook triple cork 1440 we’ve ever seen (even having the nonchalance to afterbang the landing), 15-year-old Kyle Mack manned up after a brutal slam to land a front 14 triple off the toes.

Seb Toutant. Back 10 double. Photo: Burrows

But let’s rewind. Proceedings began with the girls’ Big Air which was taken out by 14-year-old Japanese sensation Miyabi Onitsuka, sending a huge front 3 before polishing off the rails with a lipslide and a front board.

Celia Miller. Photo: Burrows.

Next on the agenda was Gian Simmen’s Legends Session in the pipe – a gathering of Gian’s friends from his long career in pro shredding. With guys like Giom Morrissette, Pascal Imhof, Xaver Hoffmann, Michi Albin and more the session was full of huge straight airs, binding-creaking tweaks and a whole lot of style. For the ageing media scrum at least it was definitely a highlight of the event and served as a nice counterpoint to the stratospheric level of technical kicker riding that was to come as couple of hours later.

Gian Simmen bossing it in his Legends Session. Photo: Burrows.

Jan Scherrer, a Swiss kid who’s grown up being influenced by Gian Simmen, throws down in the Legend Session for the legions of Instagram addicts. Photo: Burrows.

Drew Stevenson pays respect to his good bud Gian. Photo: Burrows.

But as much as respecting the legends of snowboarding past is important, this game’s fundamentally about the kids pushing the limits at the apex of the sport and there’s no doubt that in the Big Air finals the level was pushed way the hell out there…

Emil Ulsletten’s front 10 doubles were rad, but on a night like tonight, not enough. Photo: Burrows

After his well-documented triple cork stomp in training we were expecting to see 18-year-old Maxence Parrot in the final and a flawless back 12 double later he’d netted the points he needed to ratchet up expectations of a triple-trading ender with teammate Seb Toutant. But, oh, drama! Clearly Kalle Järvilehto hadn’t read the script and his saurian-sized back 12 double and front board through the kink saw Toutant and his cab 12 dub heading for a early bath. Kyle Mack had impressed in the earlier rounds and the 15-year-old Yank upped his game to take the third spot in the final with clean back 10 doubles and a front double toedeo edging him past Antonio Trouchon, while Emil Ulsletten rounded out the final spot, dispatching Swissman Markus Mathis with a solid front 10 double after a particularly brutal slam.

Kalle Järvilehto came out of nowhere to blow minds. Photo: Burrows.

So, finals. Would we see a triple? O’Neill’s beamer was asking the same question on the side of the jump and it didn’t take long to answer. On his first run Parrot dropped, popped, dipped three times, spun round four times, and landed, albeit a tad sketchy. Everyone went nuts and some called it curtains for the rest. How could anyone match that? Turns out he could but they couldn’t – on his last run Parrot landed another triple but totally perfect, even managing to give his stomp some afterbang. Insane. It feels lame describing guys who can land perfect doubles as also-rans, but with the triple landed that’s essentially what Kalle and Emil became. Kyle Mack certainly came close, having a pop at the front 14 triple toedeo a la Jørn Simen Aabøe. He gave himself a proper beating but was undeterred, went backup and duly stomped it, causing the crowd to explode again. Maxence looked a little nervy waiting for Mack’s score to drop, but the judges rightly penalised his slightly scuffed landing and the 25k went to the Canadian.

Kalle was consistently making front boards through this kink look like the easiest thing in the world. Photo: Burrows.

All in all, despite many opting for a FISting in Quebec, this edition of the O’Neill Evolution is one that will certainly live long in the memory. If this is becoming the benchmark then the future will be frankly silly. Thanks for the goodtimes, O’Neill.

Damn, some of these cats take their ‘practice’ pretty seriously. In the training last night for the upcoming O’Neill Evolution Big Air, Maxence Parrot stomped the back 14 triple cork. This could get heavy…

We got into Davos last night and ran into the TTR guys who were kinda frothing as they’d just got back from training here at the O’Neill Evolution and Maxence Parrot had just stomped a triple. Here it is. This contest might get silly when it actually starts…