Fisher goes from first to last

ASPEN — Nobody expected this.

Breckenridge's Steve Fisher, who shot to the top of freestyle snowboarding last year largely due to a win in the Winter X Games superpipe contest, finished last in Sunday night's pipe prelims and failed to advance to tonight's final. Fisher fell late in both of his runs under the lights at Buttermilk, his second fall coming on his last trick — a 1080 — on the final run of the evening.

He needed a 79.67 to make the top 10 and give himself a shot at defending his crown. It seemed like he had it, too, and didn't need the 1080, one of snowboarding's most difficult tricks. But he tried it anyway, and lost his balance on the landing.

The defending champ threw his board in the snow and hung his head in disappointment upon seeing the 64-point score.

"At least you go down trying," Fisher said of the final trick, which was aired live on ESPN, just like his victory run last year. "What can you do? There's always next year, if I'm invited back."

The shocking finish continued an unexpected season for Fisher. After winning four major pipe contests last year, including the X Games, and taking the World Cup opener this winter, he has finished no higher than fifth in his last four events. He failed to make the finals in each of the last two, the World Championships at Whistler and Sunday's X Games.

"The story continues," he said.

It was a different sort of story for Fisher's U.S. Snowboarding teammate Andy Finch. Finch led the pack of 10 qualifiers into tonight's three-run final with a first run to remember on Sunday. He soared high into the snowy night sky, breaking a run of X Games bad luck in the process and securing the last start spot tonight.

"You can look at that two ways," Finch said. "One is a disadvantage because you're going to have to sit at the top for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half before you do your runs. Or you can look at it as an advantage because you'll get to see everyone else's runs and you'll know what you have to do. But I already know what everyone's going to do — they're going to go off."

Finch's score of 91.66 bettered recently crowned 19-year-old world champ Antti Autti's second-place 90.00 and Shaun White's 89.00.

Like Fisher, White faced the prospect of elimination on his second run. He was the second-to-last competitor to go, but he pulled it out, as he always seems to do.

Tommy Czeschin (fourth place, 86.00), Mason Aguirre (84.00), Mike Goldschmidt (82.66), J.J. Thomas (81.66), Travis Rice (80.66), Danny Kass (80.00) and Luke Wynen (79.66) also reached the finals from a field that Fisher called before the prelims "the best 20 guys I've ever seen together, ever."

Keir Dillon, last year's bronze medalist, joined Fisher in the realm of disappointment Sunday. He finished 13th.

For more stories, photos and videos, visit www.summitdaily.com/xgames.


Devon O'Neil can be contacted at (970) 668-3998, ext. 231, or doneil@summitdaily.com. For more stories, photos and videos, visit www.summitdaily.com/xgames.