Blouin and Vockensperger on top in Bakuriani
Mar 06, 2022·Snowboard Park & Pipe
A big weekend of action in Georgia wrapped up on Sunday afternoon with snowboard slopestyle finals, where Canada’s Laurie Blouin and Leon Vockensperger of Germany claimed the victories at the Bakuriani World Cup.
Sunday’s competition was the first-ever FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup to take place on Georgian soil as well as being the test event for next season’s Bakuriani 2023 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, and while challenging weather throughout the week caused multiple schedule changes, much better conditions on Sunday meant that finals went down on schedule with some strong riding on display.
BLOUIN CASHES IN WITH STRONG FIRST RUN
Blouin came into Bakuriani clearly on a mission, charging through her training runs throughout the week and serving notice that she would be the one to beat.
On her first run on Sunday she laid it down with her signature smooth style, kicking things off with a frontside 180 on to switch backside 360 out on the first rail, into a switch backside 540 nose grab, a backside 360 melon on the second kicker, and then a frontside 720 tailgrab on the money booter, before finishing things off with a 50-50 frontside 360 out on launch rail, and then a gap to frontside boardslide on the down-flat-down rail.
The run would earn her a score of 76.25 which she would not improve upon with her second attempt and, when none of the other women could match her with their own second runs, the 25-year-old would earn her second career World Cup win and her 10th World Cup podium.
“I’m feeling relieved, to be honest,” Blouin said from the finish area, “It was a tough week, everyone rode well even though it was really tough conditions, and the park crew made it work even with not a lot of snow. We got the contest done and I’m happy with the win.”
Just behind Blouin in second place was her Canada Snowboard teammate Jasmine Baird, as the 22-year-old put down a run that included a stomped cab double underflip 900 on the second hit and earned her a score of 70.00 for the third World Cup podium of her career and her first slopestyle top-3 since the 2018/19 season.
Rounding out the women’s podium in third was 19-year-old Bianca Gisler of Switzerland, who stepped up in her second run of the competition with a cab 900 on the second jump to earn a score of 67.25 and the first World Cup podium of her career in just her fifth start.
VOCKENSPERGER GOES LARGE TO BUMP GUSELI
Over on the men's side of things it was looking for much of the competition like 16-year-old Valentino Guseli of Australia would walk away with his first World Cup podium in just the second slopestyle start of his career.
Guseli is best known as a halfpipe phenom, finishing sixth at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in February and last season setting a world-record for the highest halfpipe air ever recorded when he hit 7.3 meters in Laax. However, with his performance on Sunday, he served notice that he’s got more than adequate chops in the slopestyle course, as well.
Guseli dropped in as the third starter of the competition and laced a run that included a half-cab on to noseslide 270 out on the first rail feature and then through the jumps a switch backside 900 melon, a frontside 1080 tailgrab and a backside 1080 weddle for a score of 81.00 that wouldn’t be touched - until Leon Vockensperger dropped in as the second-to-last rider of the competition.
Knowing he needed to step it up to bump Guseli, Vockensperger came out swinging, starting with a half-cab on backside 540 out on the flat rail before going huge through the jump line, first with a switch backside 1260 melon, into a frontside 1080 melon, and then a competition-highlight backside triple cork 1440 weddle grab on the money booter.
Vockensperger then finished things off with a 50-50 frontside 360 off on the launch rail and then a frontside 270 on, 270 off on the final down rail for a score of 84.75 and the first World Cup victory of his career.
“It felt pretty good,” Vockensperger said of his run, “I know I could have maybe been a little cleaner on the last two obstacles, but I’m pretty stoked about my jump line. It wasn’t easy though, for sure. If you look around, it’s snowing and it was windy, conditions were tough, but I’m super hyped that we were able (to compete).
“I’m also stoked for Val (Guseli) and my teammate Leon Guetl - it’s his first podium - so I’m really hyped for those guys too.”
While Guseli would have to settle for second place, earning his first career World Cup podium in slopestyle competition was still a significant achievement for the young Australian, and with his teammate Jesse-James Parkinson earning a fifth-place result in his first World Cup start, the future is looking bright for squad from Down Under.
Third place went to the men mentioned by Vockensperger, as Leon Guetl put down one of the cleanest runs of the competition for a score of 77.00. With some of the most technical rail tricks landed by anybody on the day - including a half-cab on, switch backside 540 melon out on the first flat bar and a backside noseslide to backslide tailslide to 270 out on the final down rail, Guetl’s run was one of the most creative seen on Sunday.
With their wins in Bakuriani, both Blouin and Vockensperger jumped into the lead of the respective women’s and men’s slopestyle World Cup standings.
Blouin now has 160 points to put herself in a tie with Japan’s Kokomo Murase on the women’s side of things, while Vockensperger’s 181 points put him well clear of Canada’s Sebastien Toutant, who has 145 points.
With Bakuriani now completed, the results in, and with the extremely dedicated and passionate local organisers proving themselves more than up to the task of hosting next season’s World Championships, the FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup will take a break next week before moving on to Spindleruv Mlyn (CZE) for the penultimate competition of the 2021/22 season.
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