Results: Slopestyle - Crankworx Innsbruck 2021

 The sport is just changing. It's what they do, I loved the days of open quali at Whistler and Darren spinning road gaps in Whistler but that just isn't slopestyle anymore. Love it or hate it things are just different. One thing is for sure these competitors are just as wild as the early days! It's all good for MTB and attracting new eyes!

 It's like they are all so pinned that everything just kind of blurs into itself. It would be refreshing to see more style than just trying to cram as much spins/flips/whips into whatever airtime they have as possible. It would also be better if there was a way to possibly have more options on courses. Now it seems more like a 1 line contest. But I guess that's what Rampage is for.

 @barnz0rz: I'm not sure what your level of involvement in the sport is or where you live or whatever, but if it's somewhat doable (and not just some backyard thing from some hack who barely promoted his own 'event' to anyone anywhere) I 1000% suggest you go check out an amateur comp if you can get there. If you're looking for pure style and dudes who don't have literally -every- trick known to man totally on lock, you'll find it in your 'bronze' level competitions. I caught Dave Lieb at Big White 2 years back on a Friday and he broke my brain, having never heard of him before and him doing super casual 7's and stuff haha

 yeah they don't even do kickflips anymore

 Much like snowboard half-pipe, the average rider can’t even begin to wrap their minds around what these athletes are doing on their bikes. The old school tricks are among my favorites to watch but those aren’t going to get a rider anywhere near a Crankworks podium.

 Fuck no, this was a classic. The depth of the field is nuts. Unlucky for Robbedgatkin, Emil is the purist's pick.

 The sport is obviously going to plateau at some point- as there is only so much a person can do on a jump w/ a bike. The crowd was probably two hundred people tops-so that’s going to make it less exciting as well.

I don’t understand your comment about about t-bogs and nac-nacs. So slopestyle should de-evolve back to the easiest trick someone can possibly do? How’s that make it more exciting? And really…. mentioning “style” as a factor with basic tricks you could see at any dirt jump park is just misguided . I can already see the 16 yr old kid in town bragging about how he rides at the same level as top riders with his stylishly done t-bogs and no-footers.

They should diversify the whole freeride tour to encompass street competitions, skatepark competitions and northshore type comps. Then you might see Rogatkin throwing the t-bogs and Emil doing can-cans

 @ride2day: I actually agree with @sionr664 about it, as well as your point about ski and snowboard freestyle competitions as well. These guys are so f*cking impressive and doing amazing things, but unless you're watching it in slow motion, its become difficult to really appreciate. I find it makes watching the events live much less enjoyable. It's not a knock on the athletes, just the watchability. Versus WC DH where even when I know the result, once Warner and Claudio start screaming the splits go green, Im glued to the screen.

 (This is all personal opinion!)

Dont get me wrong, the level of riding is insane and some of the tricks are nuts! But nearly everyone did a backflip of the first drop and we saw loads of 360 bar to tailwhips, double tailwhips and a lot of the same tricks!

Im not saying they should de-evolve and just do t-bogs and nacs, but imagine a superman to heelclicker, for me that would get me more stoked than seeing a 360 bar to tailwhip for the millionth time! It would just be nice to see some veriety and flair.

Maybe its just me not being into slopestyle as much as i used to be, but thats what i think

 @sionr644: watch the run with the backflip superman et al. Can't remember who it was.

 @sionr644: nah bud I feel the same way. Its not a knock on progression or the athletes. Its just what happens with those things in a judged competition. We've seen it in Rampage on some level, however the insane terrain they are working on makes it impossible to not be captivated.

 They just need to change the courses the tricks are obviously going to be similar when they have been running the same Innsbruck course for 4 years. Throw in a couple unique features aswell

 Get what you mean. It's amazing technical riding, but sometimes it is hard to follow and can look frenzied rather than stylish

 @sionr644: Fedko's first run, that was it.

 I think the riders adapts to the scoring. Being on the tour is more important thans being original...

 @sionr644: To go back to the snowboard comparisons, I am more stoked on a full tweak method than I am in quad flips or whatever they are doing that I can't understand.

signed, grumpy old man.

 @FriedRys: Love a big method, so sick in any boardsport

 definetly my favourite run by far, others were more technical but that superman seatgrab and indian air were so mint!

 Yeah comparing it to torquato’s run it was definitely leagues better. More unique tricks also

 It's the same with Fedko every year I guess. The judges still can't appreciate some superman action.

 I think he should be 2nd

 No way man. I'm a huge Rogatkin fan, but that 1000% went to Emil. That was a ridiculous run, if only for the acrobatics involved, let alone the bike riding haha.

Rogatkin obviously, as we all know, goes absolutely huge everytime, and either explodes on impact or wins, basically.

With COVID and this past farrrr too lengthy off-season, it's suuuuper apparent that hey, go figure, folks have been practicing. The top, say.....8 guys have brought their game up damn close to where Nicholi, Brett, Brandon and Emil were at before COVID ruined everyone's lives. That's huge, as all the 90+ runs were evident of.

Clearly Rogatkin's been going hard at home too, but he's still only got so much like, finesse (that's not the word I'm looking for) to what he does, while Emil is methodical and almost has to be damn near robotic out of necessity.

Oh! Got it:
Emil is the methodical airborne, oppo spinning, oppo down-whipping, bike riding equivalent of a brain surgeon with a steady hand and perfect cursive after a week at Burning Man.

Nicholi is the equally airborne, twisting, bike flipping, physics defying, often wearing a fine coat of war dust because it covers up the blood so well, equivalent of the Incredible Hulk.

I think Emil's gonna take things and run with it if he can endure the crashes it takes to get there, like Rogatkin has.

 @Afterschoolsports: I think he ended his run with an oppo cashroll. But yeah I agree that always spinning the same direction gets boring.

 @Afterschoolsports: very wrong.

@CF519: loving the fan fiction. My 7 year old says they all won. Still hasn't learned to pick a rider and be a dick about it. Personally, no idea how they judge this comp anymore.

 Thank you!!! going to nail the runs next time!

 I think juges made a mistake scoring him 90.00 and Lucas Huppert a 88.00 this early in the contest. I guess they got lucky that only Paul Couderc pulled a good 2nd run. What if Some other riders improved their 2nd run ? Most of them had the potential of landing between IMO (including Lucas Huppert himself).