The IXS slopestyle went off today despite wind making things slightly dicey for riders. Leo Delfour Barrsacq was the surprise of the contest. He's wild! Just wait for the recap, he threw 720's, truck drivers, and more. Semenuk took the win in iXS Slopestyle and the Teva Best Trick (with a huge backflip on the road gap during his slopestyle run) He only took one run, and his prize purse for that one run was 2,000€ for Teva Best Trick and 7,000€ for the Slopestyle. Unknown Frenchman Leo Delfour Barrascqq stole the show though. Leo only qualified during the Wildcard contest here several weeks ago, and absolutely charged on his first run, tricking nearly every obstacle, a feat that almost no one could top on the first run. In fact, Brandon Semenuk was the only one to best Leo's score, throwing down what was to be the winning run of the contest. Leo's second run was even better than his first, cementing him solidly into second place after the first two runs and winning him won 4,000€. Martin Söderström took home third and 1,500€. Fourth place and 1,000€ went to course designer Yannick Granieri, and another French wildcard Tomas Lemoine earned fifth place and 500€. Anthony Messere could have shaken things up if he'd stayed on the bike. He looked confident and aggressive, linking together a possibly winning run before crashing on a double whip. Anthony's front flip into the first whale tail and Greg Watts' suicide no handed flip to barspin on the first trick jump were contest highlights as well. Crankworx Whistler will be mind-boggling. Unfortunately Sam Pilgrim and Sam Reynolds were both injured during competition. Reynolds with two fractured vertebrae, we're unsure what happened to Pilgrim.
Because extremely strong winds were forecast to pick up later in the day, organizers at Crankworx Les 2 Alpes made the decision to open the Slopestyle presented by iXS and the Teva Best Trick Showdown competition at 12:30pm, so the athletes could get two runs in while the sun was shining and the wind was relatively calm. The majority of the athletes executed two runs, however Semenuk was satisfied with his first run and opted out of the second. Andreu opted out of his second run as well, but his first run didn't get him into the top ten. At 6 pm the stage was set for the Superfinal at Les 2 Alpes, however, the same gusting winds that plagued the Teva Best Trick on Thursday night made another appearance. After Cam Zinks run the athletes decided to play it on the safe side foregoing their third runs and be judged on their two runs from the afternoon.
Unknown Frenchman Leo Delfour Barrascq, who was invited to the event as a wildcard, had the second highest score and won 4,000€; while Martin Söderström took home third and 1,500€. Fourth place and 1,000€ went to course designer Yannick Granieri and another French wildcard Tomas Lemoine earned fifth place and 500€.
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 Brandon Semenuk showed an unreal ability here, he made just one single run today. A perfect one.. he flipped the road gap (best trick), 360'd the big step down, and pulled a tuck no hander to tailwhip on the last jump. what to say.. alien! |
 | Brandon was his usual calculated self, says Ryan Meyer, Crankworx Les 2 Alpes live host and sport announcer. His run had combo tricks galore. The guy is so dialed, the run was almost too perfect. |
Semeuk’s run highlights included a 360 onto the first dish with a switch 360 out, a huge flip whip on the first trick jump, and then a massive backflip off the road gap. The backflip had the most risk because the off axis landing has the rider banking immediately to the right after landing to make the 10 inch path to get onto the boner log. Semenuk’s fellow competitors gave him the most props for it and awarded him the Teva Best Trick for what was likely the most difficult line performed in the entire competition.
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| Leo Belfour Barrsaq. Remember that name. This young French kid won his way into the event at the wildcard qualifier here three weeks ago, and went on to beat everyone except Semenuk in the finals. That's huge! |
France’s unknown rider Leo Delfour Barrascq broke out onto the world freeride scene in a big way by out-tricking many of the world’s best freestyle riders. He thinks he was lucky but his skill was apparent as he performed two super strong runs. Standouts for technicality and balls include a 360 off the skinny log that then flowed into a huge floaty 720 over the first trick jump. His final trick, on the FMX super kicker, was a Superman nothing that had him sailing free of his bike, for what felt like forever, before he grabbed the seat and landed.
| There are definitely shades of Paul Bas in Leo's story and we are all feeling like this is history repeating itself, says Meyer, referencing Paul's breakthrough performance at Crankworx Whistler in 2004. Leo was a wildcard invite to tonight's competition and with his performance here has earned himself a wildcard invite to the Red Bull Joyride event at Crankworx Whistler on August 18, 2012. |
1. Brandon Semenuk - 85.67
2. Leo Delfour Barrsacq - 79.33
3. Martin Soderstrom - 74.33
4. Yannick Granieri - 74.00
5. Tomas Lemaine - 70.00
6. Greg Watts - 68.00
7. Tomas Genon - 57.67
8. Anthony Messere - 54.33
9. Kelly McGarry - 50.33
10. Ramon Hunziker - 49.33
Teva Best Trick ResultsBrandon Semenuk - Backflip on the road gap
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| Semenuk's Teva Best Trick Winning backflip |
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| Be careful Aaron, we want to see many more 'life behind bars' episodes... |
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| The road gap was pretty long, Thomas Genon hitting it in practice. Thomas pulled a double whip on the last jump and he tried for a triple whip but didn't make it. |
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| Martin Soderstrom with a big nac, and a 360 off the huge step down. Great riding as usual for the man from Uppsala! |
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| Yannick Granieri built the course here at Les 2 Alpes. With tricks like his signature 360 he looked like he might take third place, until Martin Soderstrom took it away from him |
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| Szymon Godziek deals with the boredom while waiting for the wind to die... |
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| Kelly McGarry |
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| German photographer and owner of a great many POD's, Christoph Laue. |
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| ...boredom part 2, Szymon Godziek |
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| Trond G. Hansen was one of the judges here. It really adds extra credibility when at least one of the judges has the ability to compete on the course. |
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| Autograph session with the Fox brigade, Yannick, Tyler, Cam, Anthony, Kyle, and Loic |
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| Semenuk... |
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| Andreu Lacondeguy didn't seem really motivated today.. he went dead sailor all the way in the final, and then crashed in practice before the superfinal. |
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| Kona's Anthoine Bizet. He threw a huge huge dumped three on his first run, and a flip tuck no hander on his second. |
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| Another French rider on the podium, Thomas Lemoine got an unexpected 5th place. The french scene is growing... |
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| Anthony Messere was going for it, front flipping onto the first whale tail on both his runs, and throwing a lot of other big stuff as well. Unfortunately he went down fairly hard in both his runs. |
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| Sam Pilgrim was the first rider to attempt a flip on the road gap. Unfortunately he landed a little out of control and he crashed hard on the landing of the following feature. He said he was fine and he was able to walk, but the doctors wisely brought him to the hospital. get well soon mate! |
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| Andrew Taylor |
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| Tyler McCaul with a big stretched out superman. |
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| Cam Zink, this was the most expected trick of the day: front flip on the step down, unfortunately he never landed it the finals. And then during the superfinal it was too windy, so he didn't even try. Bummer. |
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| Zink, superfinal run, he got a little squirrelly in the wind jumping onto the whale tail, and didn't even try his front flip off. |
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| Kurt Sorge, a little less than happy about his knee. |
1. Sam Pilgrim
2. Tomas Genon
3. Martin Soderstrom
4. Sam Reynolds
5. Anthony Messere
6. Yannick Granieri
7. Mitch Chubey
8. Tomas Zejda
9. Brett Rheeder
10. Brandon Semenuk
STOP PRESS: Latest update from our man Si Paton who went to the clinic with Sam, this is what Si had to say:
| Sam had the flip down in practice, coming into today's run he knew his right grip was twisting. Regardless he carried on and when he landed his right hand rotated and sent him all squirrely and into the deck. The medics were on him straight away and he was whisked to the clinic as he was complaining of dizzyness and blurry vision. They x-rayed him and found no visible broken bones, I think they were more concerned regards the smell from his knee pads which were last seen crawling out the "Toxics Bin". For precaution they sent him down to Grenoble for a brain scan, hopefully they will find it. His brain not the hospital.
While we were waiting for transfer ambulance Matt Jones went to Sams room and in true British style kicked the door in to retrieve Pilgrims passport, E11 health card and the ever so important credit card. Pilgrim then called Reynolds trying to book a bed next to his fellow injured rider. Latest update on Reynolds is that he will have to wear a corset once they peel him off the bed sheets that are currently stuck to him thanks to his grazed back seeping blood and sweat. |
Photos by:
Simon Nieborak and
Ale di LulloThe French locals cleaned up! What did you think of Leo's run?
so i don't know what semenuks last run was like, but his first run was killer!
