Results: Crankworx Rotorua - Slopestyle

 what even happened with semenuk?

 ripped his skinny jeans.

 he was so close to winning it in his first run. why the hate?

 Carson Storch is the next up and comer!

 @harrisonds I'm not hating on him, I'm just making the observation that rest of the riders where all having fun and smiling etc whilst he sulked elsewhere.

 Mr Pinkbike POD himself!

 I think he just demands perfection out of himself

 norbs got robbed

 that rage quit though... LMAO

 Everyone seemed to have a great time. Cam was great at commentating, It was so much more fun listening to him than (shall go nameless) dont want to hate

 I'm going to beat this horse to death, so give me a moment. Feel free to skip the comment and downvote into oblivion.

Every year, every event that he takes place in, every time he's on camera people go for the jab at Semenuks attitude. One day it's he's the sickest rider ever, then another day is he's a piss poor sport who sucks ass on camera. It's no secret he doesn't want to guest star on the Ellen show.

Now, I personally wanted to see Rheeder win one, he's a nice kid and I think everyone deserves a fair shot and he got his. But to sit back here and extrapolate the situation, and talk about "well Zink stayed around even though he got last place and congratulated Rheeder" is nonsense. My favorite part of mountain biking is that I can get on my bike and be whatever it is that I am, I don't have to act or put on a face and be someone I'm not. I'm 100% sure that Semenuk was mad at himself, and it was likely much less painful for him personally to go cool off by himself rather then try to act as cheerful as Zink or Soderstrom or McGarry. Not everyone carries themselves through a situation like that after you completely blow a moment your lifes work has amounted to, and I suppose I resonate with that. I would have hopped on my bike and went to throw rocks at stray cats in an alley way for the rest of the night, the last thing I want to do is "pretend" I'm dandy when I'm really just upset at myself.

I've called a lot of people a poor sport in my lifetime, and sometimes I'd like to think I can justify why I rationalize someone to be a poor sport, but this moment, for whatever reason, really opened my eyes to the fact that it's okay to not stick around just because everyone else stuck around. Unless he's under some sort of advertising contract to talk to the media like it's the damn NFL or something post-game, I don't think he's peace-ing out of his run and going back to his hotel room meant anything at all.

cont....

 ...cont

How easy is it for us to sit on our fat asses behind a computer screen and call someone a poor sport based on what we see on a two hour livestream, and try to generalize someone between a bunch of black and white lines and how he fits in the big picture compared to all of the other contenders. But we all know Semenuk isn't like a lot of those guys. He's historically sucked in front of cameras, he doesn't have much to say, and he is his worst critic and wants to see perfection from himself. Is that a bad thing? f*ck no it's not. It's just how he is. And mountain biking should absolutely let you be who you are. Let him come back and try again next time, then jump on his nuts when he wins and pinkbike posts a bike check, but check yourself before you want to circlejerk about how he's a piss poor sport every time he doesn't act how YOU want him to act in a competition.

As for his actual riding, I can see from that first run that he's moving on from opposite tricks every other feature and he's linking combinations together that are new and fresh, difficult and untouched by the rest of the competition. I'm excited to see him unveil those in future competitions because I want to know how judges receive what he was throwing down. Bummed he didn't land because I want to see ALL the riders finish the runs they planned out, but I wish him luck ahead. Let him be him, it literally doesn't speak anything about his riding.

Overall I am happy to see Rheeder get one. He deserves it, just the other day I scrolled all the way back to when he posted an Instagram about how he was sad that he busted his back after leading the Diamond charts, and that he pretty much lost his shot, so I hope this feels as good as it felt for us all to see him take it. Congrats dude!

 Is your name Chris Crocker by any chance? Hahaha Im just buggin yah

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 Good times with Chris Crocker. But nah, I mean I don't even know him (Semenuk) personally and I could really care less. Towards the end of the event I was actually butthurt that he stormed off thinking about how Brett stayed last year at Whistler to watch him do his victory lap, but then it just kinda hit me that it doesn't matter and I'll probably never understand what that feels like because I'm too much of a pussy to dedicate my life to one single passion like all these competitors do. The reason I wrote a f*cking novel is because I've learned that it's better to overshare then not share, and a lot of times if you don't want to be the voice for an alternative idea or view, nobody else will speak up. In the end it's just arm-chair warrior internet comments, and even my comments don't mean shit but I did feel the need to say something. What really went down is I just wasted 15 minutes of my life on Pinkbike comments.

 I saw Semenuk on Saturday after the practices, shook his hand and wished him luck. seems like a pretty nice guy.

 Fair enough haha I just wanted to give yah a hard time haha

 Try hitting your head that hard after the first run and even think about being chipper with us and media at the bottom of the course. Brandon couldn't see out of his peripheral and still tried to ride his second run. Give him a break; he's one of our best friends.

 Hope its not significant eye damage. But this does explain why he stopped his second run short. Appreciate you giving us an explanation to what went wrong.

 You just got told by Cam Zink. Be quiet now

 Thank you Zink for trying to stop this flow of hate against Semenuk...too many people speak for nothing...

 Very glad he pulled out of that run if that's the case. Second impact syndrome is no joke. Semenuk might come across as a bit of a robot on here, but he's done huge things for slopestyle and the sport would be lesser without him.

 I personally think Semenuk had the best run and should have won if he had landed it. All the other guys were throwing down too though and everyone was riding way better than I expected them to do. Especially Söderström went really, really strong after such a long injury brake and Genon also thew down some banger stuff. Also as much as I would like to see Cam McCaul compete with the other dudes, he was so good and refreshing as a commenator. Way to go Cam!

 Semenuk should take the hate as the ultimate compliment. Semenuk is trying to be the best in the sport, everyone else is just trying to be as good as Semenuk. No matter who it is at the top, this is how they'd be treated.

 I think another thing people forget is that each year these guys are getting older making crashes harder to bounce back from. Especially with a short time between runs to recuperate.

 @EeehhZink Thanks for providing some feedback and perspective as a competitor. Good to see camaraderie in the sport between athletes as well.

 @EeehhZink yup, not everyone gets up after a concussion and stomps a 360 off the Oakley sender!

I hope Brandon will be fine!

 I know what it feels like to smash your brains and then not be able to see, it's definitely not a feeling that pushes you ride at your limit with all smiles at the finish. When you hit your head that hard, all you want to do is go home.

 He stopped he second run due to blurred vision apparently. As if he would hit a huge sender when everything is blurred. He has not lost and reputation in this, he is still one of the most successful people ever in slope style and you know it.

 You can tell Logan peat lives with a trek rider - even his bike has developed the same style

 Seriously, you'd think Santa Cruz could weld up at least one slope bike for this dude. They are a bike company and all.

 Ah that's why Semenuk bailed on his second run... damn what a beast to even attempt that. That was an awesome slope comp. all around but only wished the weather was better earlier on so everyone had a better chance to stomp their runs. Anyone else shocked by how many were tossing down corked 7s? Insane.

 The fact that Semenuk aborted his 2nd run is a testament to his professionalism. You know he wanted to stomp that run and take the win. He probably wanted it more than anyone else out there, especially with the Triple Crown in play. But concussions are serious. An immature rider would've ignored the consequences and continued that 2nd run.

 Dude, he probably had concussion...... i would much rather go get it checked out and not die than watch some run and probably die....

 @reno-be Says the guy who's never attempted a cork-7 barspin to faceplant.

 For being all of 24 years old he deals with the pressure of world class competition pretty damn well. He's obviously dedicated to the sport, his training, progression, and makes smart sponsor/movie/career choices but he's still HUMAN! Add the concussion and I can't believe the grief he is getting. Here's some perspective; look at mainstream sports and the horrible role models some of the athletes are, and yet Semenuk is getting burned for not explaining a half run with a concussion after falling 20+ feet to his face. Ridiculous, give him a break.

 I don't see calling him a poor sport as being out of line at all. It isn't even being that critical. He's probably a really nice guy that makes a great friend. But he's still a poor sport. That doesn't mean he's an asshole, just that his sporting demeanor isn't the best. And it isn't just this time as a result of injury, it's most times. Seriously guys, it's ok to call it as it is. The competition would be a downer to watch if everyone carried themselves the same way. Thankfully, there are a variety of attitudes and a lot of really good sports on the tour.

 I agree. He is unquestionably the best slopestyle rider. The others are just trying to match him. He also unquestionably has a face like a slapped arse most of the time. Both observations, one deemed more acceptable than the other. Don't get me wrong, he's unreal on a bike. No one else comes close, at riding or having a face like a slapped arse. Fact is fact. I'm not hating, just stating the obvious.

 I really would have wanted to see that as well but to be honest I don't think he deserved a third he did the same trick twice in both runs and that is not what the judges want to see, but he is back from injuries and haven't riden on a while so a fourth place on his first event isn't bad and more so when you consider how big this even was

 Rogatkin also did the same trick twice (double tailwhip twice, and there was also a simple and a triple). In total its 8 tailwhip in a run from 4 move witch is really impressive, but I think Martin deserved a 3rd and Rogatkin a 4th place!

 I'm writing with high hopes of not getting stoned for it, but no one seems to notice that all of Nicolai's tailwhips were opposite.

 Khaine, its not opposite.Hes goofy rider,all his tricks are *opposite*, but regular) (except of barspin)

 89 for soderstrom was a joke

 Judges seemed to be placing a ton of weight on clean landings. Even little scuffs and drifts seemed to knock peoples scores.

 He took it so well though!

 The FMB is attaching huge amounts of points to technicality like perfect clean landings and oppo tricks instead of crowd pleasing huge bangers. I can't really say why, I think its very poor direction for the sport.

According to the kiwis who were behind me in the crowd and knew nothing bout mountain biking:

"He got what? Someone needs a good kerb stomping ay"

 Soderstrom and Bizet were robbed IMO.

 martin killed it and should have gotten 3rd IMO. probably my favorite slopestyle rider too, but i think he needs to learn more flip combos or cork 7s to be able to match up with a rheeder or semenuk run. one flipwhip and one cork 7 and the rest regular martin bangers would be a winning combo..

 I honestly barely even know much about bizet so I don't have much of a bias, but his first was KILLER. Its score, however, was quite disproportionate and it's quite clear that he agreed given his reaction to being told he got a 60. I'm totally bummed for him but I trust that if he's truly as good as that run was, his skills will get him on podiums in no time.

 You should not be too hard agains Martin though he is back from some nasty injuries remember that

 rogatkin got robbed and soderstrom too

 Two years ago at 9 knights Bizet double back flipped his Operator. I believe that same year he place second at Rampage. He's a beast, just not as consistent as some of the other top riders but a whole lot of fun to watch!

 Thomas Zejda truly deserved better than 7th is the one defining thing I can recall about the judging being poor. He crushed, demolished, and destroyed everything he touched and did it with steeez!

 He was on a Diamondback slopestyle bike again though, wonder what happened to his carbon YT industries slope bike? The diamondback logo looked to be taped over

 ...He's totally not is he? I'm on my A game tonight.

 Broke his rear in practice I believe but could be wrong

 @Cmm8907 his YT prototype bike was too small for him so he rode his diamondback instead.

 There is one carbon mold for the slope bike so far, barely big enough for me. Its just not quite big enough for kelly to feel comfortable on. They hold up just fine

 McGarry's a big dude. I doubted he'd be able to ride the YT prototype on a course of this size to begin with. The Diamondback size long's he was riding were always bigger than your average 'large' sized frames. There's no way Kelly was going to be riding the same size frame as Zink and Lacondaguy.

 Straight from the YT US/Canada rep. @EeehhZink As stated above it was a sizing issue. Stop the hearsay about broken frames. The kicker is it's still a proto frame that's supposed to get stress tested and pushed to be broken, which it didn't. More people should be stoked to see a carbon slopestyle frame survive not speculate that it broke already.

 he should have swapped positions with tommy g so he was 3rd and tommy was 4th

 Is that Confirmed? It actually seems plausible.

 Yeah, he got checked out after the second run.

 Good he stopped! Head injuries should be taken serious!

 Rogatkin defiantly threw down a sick run. That 720 at the end was huge!

 I'm thought the same at first but then watched reeders again and that cork seven he did on second hit was huge. Rogatkin will be a stud though.

 Tripple whip, front flip, corked 7, cash roll, please try harder Nic.

 Probably because of the rain. It didn't look to wet on the livestream, but you get an idea of what it was like looking at what happened to Genovese on his second run.

 I think this might be the next 'norbs got robbed'

 I mean it was a full carbon slope bike right? I can only guess what happened haha!!

 it must have yeti'd out on him so he garbbed an old spare.

 Zink said above they only have one mold for right now and just barely fits him. Kelly is just a bit taller... Haha

 Ticket slope with santa cruz stickers.

 That might be just be the ticket to for him

 Ha! Thats funny. I'm sure santa cruz is cooking up a proto slope bike if their riders want to ride other companies bikes.

 i doubt it, there isnt the biggest market out there for slope bikes. plus they have a slope factory team of one rider (if im not mistaken) so itd be a waste of money to blow on a proto frame that may or may not work, when logan can just hop on a ticket s thats tried and true, and toss santa cruz decals on it to fool people not looking at the details!

Reece does the same thing except with giant logos on his. people still ask about the "giant proto slope bike" lol

 Hopefully PB finds out what happens... Im so bummed for Semenuk

 and what happened to granieri.. heard some dif stories about that

 Crashed first run and just stopped riding on his second run for some reason..??

 Olympic athletes have world cups and shit to. Semenuk is the best in the world.To get to that level you gotta put your whole life into it and to fuk up doing chit youve done before would devastate you. Think about if in your job you had three chances a year to do a test and you fuked up. If your not upset after that then theres something wrong with you or you just dont care that much.Some people deal with it better than others but he's got the most to lose so you can't blame for fuking off. At least he didnt get pissed and storm the podium.

 he rode! just crashed twice so he didnt make podium