Dusty Henricksen, Telma Särkipaju Win Rockstar Energy Open Parkstyle
Like all good brackets, one of the best matchups of the entire Rockstar Energy Open was way too early in the contest.
In the first round of the finals day, American Dusty Henricksen and Canadian Mark McMorris – two of the most impressive slopestyle riders for their respective countries – were pitted against each other. McMorris finished the semifinals in the top spot, while Dusty Henricksen needed his final run to land himself in the top eight of the field of 24.
In his first run against McMorris, Henricksen put down a boardslide chicane, a front rodeo stalefish, and a Michalchuk on his way to a score of 92.
Going into that matchup, Henricksen kept his expectations pretty low.
“It's Mark McMorris, the greatest ever do it,” he said after the contest. “So I kind of had no stress at all because I didn't know if I was going to be able to do it. I got lucky with that extra point, and then just kept trying that same run. I got lucky today.”
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Henricksen went on to beat out another Canadian, Eli Bouchard, on his way to the final with a score of 94. He took down VQS finalist Øyvind Kirkus, who was trying to pull off a Cinderella story after taking down Jake Canter and Cameron Spalding in the first two rounds of the final.
“It was so fun to ride with just all the street guys and the pow guys, like, they actually don't give a fuck at all,” he said. “So it's sick, you know, (Nik) Baden’s doing 60-foot methods, in between runs, it's that's what it's about.”
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For the women, 20-year-old Finnish rider Telma Sarkipaju beat out the best women’s slopestyle rider of all time Jamie Anderson in a dog fight of a final. Sarkipaju battled a heel bruise to put down a run that consisted of a Cab lipslide 270, Cab 540, frontside 360, melon air over the hip, frontside 360 frontside grab, and a Cab 270 to fakie on the down bar. Her score of 82 edged out Anderson’s 79.
"I'm almost speechless. It is a dream to come here, injured, and still be able to ride. I bruised both of my heels last week at the World Cup Big Air event in Steamboat and this week has been tough, because I can't really walk properly, but I'm happy I can snowboard! I'm really proud of myself right now," said Särkipaju.