This past weekend at the FMB District Ride, Brandon Semenuk and Brett Rheeder secured first and second place. This is the third consecutive diamond FMB event that Brandon and Brett were the top two riders. These two riders and teammates are pushing themselves and the sport to new levels. It's exciting to watch, here is their story.
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laurenjenkins
Member since Jan 10, 2012
105 articles
This has got my wondering, who will/could be able to knock them off the top spots? Like if Soderstrom wasn't competing would he have been able to progress as quickly as these guys?
Soderstrom is probably the closest. Thelander is on the rise, and he missed most of this season, so I can't wait to see him ride next year. Tommy G and Yannick are also looking really dialed lately.
pilgrim could consistently land top five but i wouldn't quite say he was close. he just got a lot of fmb points from smaller comps but rheeder and semenuk are on a way higher level. the two are in a league of their own
Rogatkin, Godziek and Reynolds are the only people who have a shout at knocking either Brendan or Brett off the top. They all have several tricks that the 2Bs don't. Unfortunately they've not been able to put down the absolute banger run they're capable of. If Reynolds did a double flip, a bike flip, corked 7 and a sidewinder in one run along side his normal stock tricks then he'd be right up there. It just all comes down to getting these moves consistent enough to put them in his comp run.
Bizet landed a double flip right into a cashroll during Munich MASH practice but got hurt before he could throw it down in his run, can't wait to see him ride either
I'd say Söderström and Pilgrim are right in the mix for the "full runs". But if they were competing then I don't know if Rheeder and Semenuk would be doing such insane tricks in their runs. They would do more tricks in which they can also pull off the opposite, because that's what judges love and that is what they were doing last year. The two of them both seem to have the judges figured out, they can pull off tricks that are less dangerous but get rewarded more. But out of the two, I'd say Rheeder cares less about the judges because he's still doing crazy front flips. Front flips don't seem to get rewarded properly according to how dangerous they are, plus they sometimes cause Rheeder to not be able to complete his run.
If Brandon did care more about the judges than Brett, he would not have done a 360 downside tailwhip instead of a flipwhip on the second to last hit at Clawworx.
And frontflips do get rewarded quite high, for instance at last years x games. Semenuk did a save run, Rheeder added a frontflip barspin to his run and won. In my oppinion Brandon had the one up one most of the features of the course if you compare both their runs.
But whatever, both guys are great riders, pretty humble. and constantly progressing the sport. All i can ask for.
As a young rider,i can say,in sport,Semenuk is an example for me:humble,look wiser than some other riders,always pushing the limits and have the best style on a bike i ever saw! If you read it Brandon (probably not...),thank you for inspire a young french boy and maybe ten thousands more young riders to better drive their bike everyday!
its so cool that the top two ridiers are canadian and one of them is from TORONTOOOOOO. But it also sucks that all the other riders know that there fighting for number three and they dont really have a shot. its still amazing that these two athletes have basically mastered there profession at the same time and watching them battle and put down some of the most amazing runs that have ever been done but still have a close friendship is really inspiring
massive respect to the two guys at the top of slopestyle being such classy, genuinely nice-seeming dudes, while still being incredibly hungry and motivated. I think it sets an incredible example for the up-and-comers out there—if you want to be the best, you comport yourself like a man, not like a child.
I feel the reason these guys are so humble and quite is because like any action sports athlete they lack so many bran cells they can't be all hyper and crazy, it hurts there head to much
If you read it Brandon (probably not...),thank you for inspire a young french boy and maybe ten thousands more young riders to better drive their bike everyday!