Embedded: Dawid Godziek Takes BMX Tricks to MTB Slopestyle at Crankworx Innsbruck 2019

 I think that is an unfair judgement upon yourself. We,the public, may not be artists, but we know what we like. That no-handed twister made me yell at the screen like no-one else's trick, so I agree with your final sentence.

 His score was way too low but I think placing 3rd is where he should have been. But being sub 90... that was some B.S.

 There's no doubt that what Reeder and Semanuk (I know he is not competing anymore) are doing is difficult, but I find the style that guys like Godziek are bringing to the comps much more fun to watch. Perfection is great but stops being fun to watch at some point. What happened to the half cabs?

 @south-rider:

I've always been a fan of style and precision as well as flawless oppo tricks. Snow, dirt, concrete.

Never enjoyed watching people spin the same direction as fast as possible. But that's why I love Dawid. Been a fan for a long time. He's doing the big spins but he's doing them with style, with variations and he still goes oppo. I like having both. I'm stoked Godziek is finally getting his shot.

And part of that... along with Emil being back... if Brett wants to stay on top he's going to have to start doing cash rolls and twisters or something in that ball park. And if Rogatkin wants to stay relevant he's gonna have to learn to go oppo.

 @south-rider: @iamamodel My main passage of thought is... all sports at the end of the day, are spectator sports, they rely solely on the fans for popularity, media and sponsors - no fans = no money in the sport, plain and simple...

To get more fans, you need to widen appeal, look at baseball, possibly one of the shittiest sports on mother Earth but has a massive fan base, so big money for the players, I went to a baseball match in The States and thoroughly enjoyed it, didn't hardly look at what the players were doing the whole time - fireworks, dance offs, food, drink etc etc - all stuff to make the sport appeal to anyone.

For slopestyle, one of the biggest appeals to fans is the banger tricks, geeks can get tech boners over oppo and quad bar spins all day, but that's not visually impressive to a none-the-wiser person - for example, my wife always wants to watch Rogatkins runs but has no further interest in slopestyle, even my 2 year old said wow to Dawid's runs.

If the sport is to progress and the riders are to get paid what they deserve, sentiment and tradition need to be set aside and banger tricks need to be rewarded duly, not just for difficulty and style, but for the fact that half the passive viewers of these events only want to see runs like Rogatkin's and Godziek's, [Oxford comma] and these people are what will bring further money and sponsorship to the sport.

 @ctd07: Agree 100%. Opposite tricks are essentially wrecking the sport. Slope style should really be in the Olympics over BMX park - It's a great spectacle and easy for the public to understand whats going on when banger tricks are on show. This would result in big contracts and more money in the sport, unfortunately this isn't going to happen if the judges keep scoring opposite so high.

 @iamamodel: hmmm I can relate to that sentiment - I think Brett is a great rider and his tricks were sic, but I don't think it was .50 above Emil ( or Emil was scored .75 short ) - also, felt like he did what he always do, so watching Dawid was way more exciting and felt way smoother - I can barely clear doubles and stay away from road gaps, but did feel like this podium was more like Emil, Dawid then Brett...

 @Luis-Sc: this. Semenuk always throwed something new on his runs, but Rheeder seems to be doing the same run in every contest: flatdrop-backflip-whip, 720, oppo 720, backflip double whip, backflip whip barspin, oppo... etc. Also, he does it so good, that when he is not perfect it looks bad...

 @aldago: Rheeder did flip oppo whip boner and flip oppo double whip on the last, 2 new ones for him actually

 @adamlaycock: this is the exact problem.... they all look the same, it takes an educated and discerning eye to spot the difference, which will go over most peoples heads

 @swindelhurst: would be great to have a season where opposite tricks got judged the same as regular, just a trick is a trick regardless of direction, I actually think the level of progression and spectacle of the runs would be insane, it might sound harsh to say they're ruining the sport but there's actually a good chance they're stifling it.

 @ctd07: Do you remember the day when Rick Moliterno did a whole mini ramp run fakie? If you think oppo should be scored the same, how about a fakie run?

 @DarrellW: clearly thats no harder than riding forward... so same as riding forward.

 @ctd07: that's true... But that's also the reason why complicated piano tablature concerts don't fill nearly as many people as your everyday pop singer - people want to be entertained more than care how hard a trick is when done oppo..

.. and if we keep letting judges decide what's good and what's not then I wonder if all runs wouldn't have to look like Brett's one, and wins whoever gets it smoother...

.. let the riders entertain us, let the crowd decide what to watch, and let judges be less partial...

 Dawid Godziek is massive. I love him and his brother and have followed them for years. He's got monstrous tricks and never complains about riding conditions, but as far as scoring goes on his run he skipped the flat drop essentially. Everybody commented on how it's the most difficult feature since if you get it even slightly wrong you won't have speed for the second jump. He basically skipped it with the truck driver. To these guys truck drivers are nothing especially compared to a flat drop flipwhip from Rheeder. Also it's not just the oppos, Rheeder comboes his oppo 720 with bar so that's huge tech. Also anyone I know that I showed the top 5 runs to said they were amazing and the people that I watched it live with were super stoked on the runs even though they don't even ride because of the caster hype and the runs themselves. Adjusting scoring so that it meets the expectations of someone that doesn't own a bike and hasn't ridden ever would be a HUGE mistake.

 @onemanarmy: Ask any judge, Its about the placement, not the points. The points (OMG HE'S IN THE 90'S!!!!) does not matter.

 @scott-townes: tell that to the fella who was stoked with his own ride and ended up below 70

 @iamamodel: Yes! this.

I say it's fair to say he got Robbed, his run and that no handed twister was the only thing that had me out of the seat and shouting! WTF, letting go when the bike is rotating like that trying to get away from you. Trick of the day for sure!

 @Luis-Sc: Thank goodness no one uses points on their resume but rather what place they finish in... Its almost like most of PB doesn't understand the basics of judging. I'm shocked.

 @ctd07: even though it may go over most folks heads, it doesn't discount the difficulty of opposite. Spinning a set of doubles opposite is insanely difficult, let alone a 720. Not discounting the difficulty of normal spun multi-whips or spins, but saying opposite tricks are wrecking the sport is a ridiculous concept.

 @jawill: not arguing the difficulty, you've read between the lines and completely missed the point being raised

 @jawill: There's a small local comp. A rider does a 360, a 720, and a tailwhip. Along comes the next rider and does the same just as smoothly. Both runs get the same big cheers from the spectators but one rider is scored way higher by the judges. Spectators scratch wonder why.

 I will say it... Godziek got f-ing robbbbbbbb'd!

 @scott-townes: been saying that tge whole time. 3rd is where he belonged

 @ctd07:
I don’t think the runs are stifling the sport. But the score sheets are definitely influencing what happens in a run. They showed them on the broadcast. Yes it is a way for judges to quickly score the run but when you know what gets the highest score it makes it formulaic. Leave some room for overall impression and suddenly a black flip superman seatgrab or a styled out flat spin scores a higher run overall.

 When semenuk was competing he always said he only really watched BMX vids and spent time on his BMX to get creative. Given the much more mature length and duration of BMX's existence it's no secret that all these bike tricks will trickle there way in. BMX is really nuanced in competitions though, it seems like they have different types for different types of riding. I won't be surprised to see mountain bike trick-riding someday break up into smaller sects too. There's no denying the dichotomy between huge acrobatic tricks and say, combos and oppos. I also don't know what the fuck I'm talking about.

 @anchoricex: It sounds like you do know what you're talking about, and I'd have to agree with it. I think we'll be seeing more trials/jib based riding, basically what I like to call street in the woods, in the near future. And hopefully that means more riders like Chris Akrigg and the 50/01 dudes. Of course, this will be in addition to the slope and freeride sectors. I'm looking forward to it.

 I've allways said MTB is to BMX what snow board is to skate

 @nojzilla: I never tried to kick flip my snowboard. Neither did I shove-it. But if you're talking about history and duration I agree with the analogy.

 @EnduroManiac: I have seen that done though

 Drew Bezanson would disagree. Apparently throwing down at this level on these features w/ slope bikes is pretty different That goes to show how insanely talented/well rounded Dawid is.

 @scott-townes: did he ever officially bow out or did he just stop trying? man they had a video series on his steps to joyride and everything.

 @anchoricex: I'm not sure, it just stopped suddenly. I'm guessing he was doing it as a film project with Red Bull and that was the extent of it.

 Agree 100%. I would rather watch Anthony's flip double whips which are super clean and stylish than Rheeders opposite flip double whips where he ball rides out of them and looks extremely sketchy. Down with opposite scoring high.

 That Twister no-hander was bonkers. So stoked to see a true variation on that trick in an MTB Comp. Wait til he does the first triple whip. I really think we're very very close to see a triple backflip in comp as well.

 Ment quad whip.

 You're on drugs. Brett did variations everywhere. Did by far and away the highest risk and highest difficult entry drop. Was more precise and very tech. Dawid had two massive tricks. But he also did 2 straight tricks with no variations. Had he thrown variations there he would have been with 1... 1.5 points of the top 2. Brett deserved to win. Had Emil won I don't think anyone would have argued he deserved it. Saying Brett should have been 3rd is kookoo.

 Flipwhip off the flat drop is all I'm going to say.

 Barrier breaking and pants dropping, to say the least.