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BRECKENRIDGE — Icelandic import Halldor Helgason dominated the men's snowboard slopestyle prelim Friday afternoon, scoring a 90 with what judges called a standout, original performance.
Putting an exclamation point on a nearly perfect first run, he ollied onto the course's last feature, a down rail, and threw a frontside, blunt 270 out.
The quiet 18-year-old said, coming into the prelim, his plan was to throw more technical tricks than the competition. He succeeded, barely nudging past Charles Guldemond, who later stomped a backside 1260 to solidify his second-place score of 89.
Helgason said he plans to go for the same run during Sunday's final. He won the slopestyle open qualifier on Thursday with a score of 85.5.
“I just really like the jumps; I just like the whole course. I'm stoked,” Helgason said after his second run. It's his first time in Breckenridge and on the Winter Dew Tour.
Park City's Sage Kotsenburg jumped into the three spot after kicking off his second run with a cab 900, frontside 1080 and a backside, doublecork 1080.
“The first run I had a sloppy (one),” Kotsenburg said. “I just cleaned things up with this (second) run.”
“(Sunday) I'm going to probably lay down that same run,” he added, saying he plans to step it up on the rails and go bigger on the jumps.
Kotsenburg and Mammoth Lakes native Tyler Flanagan, who finished seventh, are the two youngest riders in the finals. Both are only 16 years old.
Breckenridge's own Eric Willet finished closely behind Kotsenburg. New Zealander Stef Zeestraten dropped three spots from his second-place, open-qualifier finish, ending up with fifth Friday.
“On my first run, I was good to go,” Zeestraten said. “I got a bit excited on the second.”
Zeestraten stomped a switch, backside 900, a frontside 1080, followed by a backside 720 on his first attempt.
After a near fall rendered his second attempt unsuccessful, the Kiwi said, “I tried to do (the same tricks) on the second run but I kind of cheated death. Good times.”
Heikki Sorsa of Finland took sixth. Brandon Reis, Scotty Lago and Sam Hulbert closed out the last three spots in the top 10.
New Jerseyan Tim Humphreys and Keystone's Andreas Wiig got edged out of the finals by three and five points, respectively.
Another Breck pro, Nate Kern, also missed the cut, finishing in 22nd place.
“I had a lot of fun with this course,” Kern said. “Breck did a great job setting this up.”
Kern added, though he thought he rode pretty well during the prelim, the level of riding was high. He said after some rest and holiday celebration, he will be looking forward to the Dew Tour's next stop at Snowbasin, Utah.
Putting an exclamation point on a nearly perfect first run, he ollied onto the course's last feature, a down rail, and threw a frontside, blunt 270 out.
The quiet 18-year-old said, coming into the prelim, his plan was to throw more technical tricks than the competition. He succeeded, barely nudging past Charles Guldemond, who later stomped a backside 1260 to solidify his second-place score of 89.
Helgason said he plans to go for the same run during Sunday's final. He won the slopestyle open qualifier on Thursday with a score of 85.5.
“I just really like the jumps; I just like the whole course. I'm stoked,” Helgason said after his second run. It's his first time in Breckenridge and on the Winter Dew Tour.
Park City's Sage Kotsenburg jumped into the three spot after kicking off his second run with a cab 900, frontside 1080 and a backside, doublecork 1080.
“The first run I had a sloppy (one),” Kotsenburg said. “I just cleaned things up with this (second) run.”
“(Sunday) I'm going to probably lay down that same run,” he added, saying he plans to step it up on the rails and go bigger on the jumps.
Kotsenburg and Mammoth Lakes native Tyler Flanagan, who finished seventh, are the two youngest riders in the finals. Both are only 16 years old.
Breckenridge's own Eric Willet finished closely behind Kotsenburg. New Zealander Stef Zeestraten dropped three spots from his second-place, open-qualifier finish, ending up with fifth Friday.
“On my first run, I was good to go,” Zeestraten said. “I got a bit excited on the second.”
Zeestraten stomped a switch, backside 900, a frontside 1080, followed by a backside 720 on his first attempt.
After a near fall rendered his second attempt unsuccessful, the Kiwi said, “I tried to do (the same tricks) on the second run but I kind of cheated death. Good times.”
Heikki Sorsa of Finland took sixth. Brandon Reis, Scotty Lago and Sam Hulbert closed out the last three spots in the top 10.
New Jerseyan Tim Humphreys and Keystone's Andreas Wiig got edged out of the finals by three and five points, respectively.
Another Breck pro, Nate Kern, also missed the cut, finishing in 22nd place.
“I had a lot of fun with this course,” Kern said. “Breck did a great job setting this up.”
Kern added, though he thought he rode pretty well during the prelim, the level of riding was high. He said after some rest and holiday celebration, he will be looking forward to the Dew Tour's next stop at Snowbasin, Utah.
