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CANADIAN BRETT RHEEDER SECURES WELL-EARNED RED BULL JOYRIDE WIN
- After two years of anticipation, Brett Rheeder dethrones reigning Red Bull Joyride champ Brandon Semenuk -
WHISTLER, BC – August 21, 2016 – The largest slopestyle mountain biking competiton in the world, Red Bull Joyride, closed out the final day of the weeklong Crankworx Whistler festival today at Whistler Blackcomb Mountain. Dubbed ‘Slopestyle Sunday’, fifteen of the world’s best slopestyle athletes went head-to-head in a gravity-defying showdown infront of 30,000 spectators packed into the Whistler Plaza for the season defining contest and a main event of the Red Bull Signature Series. Watch the winning run by Canadian Brett Rheeder here.
If there was one athlete with a bullseye on his back at this year’s Red Bull Joyride, it was Brandon Semenuk. Comparably the Usain Bolt of slopestyle mountain biking, Semenuk has held court over the Whistler event for the past three years consecutively, with a total of four first place finishes to his name as the most winning athlete in the history of the contest. But this year, it was Canada’s Brett Rheeder (Mount Albert, ON) who put an end to ‘The King’s’ reign after pursuing him for nearly two years.
“It’s such a surreal feeling. I’ve been struggling since 2012 and after facing so much pressure last year and having two crashes, this has been a long time coming.” explains Rheeder, “I was still very nervous going into today. The conditions weren’t ideal but as soon as I dropped in, everything just goes away and it’s just you and the bike.”
The first place win for Rheeder could not be more well deserved, following a third place win in 2014 and an upsetting result in 2015. Last year, Rheeder found himself in a remarkable position going into the Red Bull Joyride event, with a chance to win the first ever Crankworx Triple Crown of Slopestyle. Wins at the first two events of the year in Rotorua, New Zealand and France meant he had two of the three wins necessary to earn the title, with Red Bull Joyride being the final. But with the immense pressure he faced, he succumbed to nerves and was unable to cobble together a winning run at the final event, despite being an odds-on favorite for the win.
Today, following two uncharacteristically low scoring runs by Brandon Semenuk, Rheeder was able to capitalize on the opportunity, catapulting himself to first place with a leading score of 93 in his opening run. Nearly flawless from top to bottom, he unleashed an arsenal of big combination tricks including a backflip barspin to opposite tail whip in the early stages of his run, his signature cork 720 and a highly technical finish with a front flip onto the final 30ft tall feature, followed by a backflip off into the finish area below.
Hot on the heels of Rheeder were Thomas Genon (BEL) who placed second with a score of 91.20, and Max Fredriksson who placed third in his Red Bull Joyride debut, scoring 89.80. Just shy of the podium was fellow Swede, Emil Johansson who made a remarkable impression in what was also his first Red Bull Joyride appearance at only 17 years of age. Under the mentorship of Martin Soderstrom, both will be contenders to watch in the years to come.
A YEAR OF PROGRESS
What a difference a year can make. In one of the most exciting slopestyle events in recent memory, this year’s contest was a testament to the rapid progression of slopestyle mountain biking, with a bevy of first-ever tricks and new faces emerging on the scene. Brandon Semenuk’s 180 calf-cab off the largest flat drop, meaning he essentially rode off the feature backwards, was a first-ever in the contest, and despite missing the podium, made a clear statement on the direction in which the sport is heading. The contest also included legendary BMX rider Ryan Nyquist who qualified for the event, one of a number of athletes from other bike disciplines who are making the transition to slopestyle mountain biking, further validating the sport’s growing appeal. Canadian BMX icon Drew Bezanson, as documented in this season’s The Learning Curve, also debuted in his first slopestyle mountain biking season as he battled it out on the FMB World Tour this summer, unfortunatelly falling just short of earning a spot at Red Bull Joyride.
RED BULL JOYRIDE
Built by riders for riders, this year’s Red Bull Joyride course was the largest yet, ringing in at 650m in length with an all new start section which put competitors immediately into the action with a drop right out of the gate, along with an all new final feature that weighed in at 30ft high with a flatdrop into the finish area.
Now in it’s sixtth year, Red Bull Joyride is the most coveted slopestyle mountain biking event and season-defining contest of the FMB World Tour. Slopestyle mountain biking, born largely on Vancouver’s North Shore, is a blend of classic downhill mountain biking, freeride and dirt jumping with athletes being scored on a blend of tricks, technicality and style.
Red Bull Joyride, a headline event of the Red Bull Signature Series, will air on October 22, 2016 from 3:00pm – 4:30pm ET on NBC. Sal Masekela, the definitive voice in action sports, hosts the Red Bull Signature Series that is now in its fifth year on NBC. Red Bull Joyride is brought to a national NBC audience in partnership with Pennzoil Synthetics and BGGoodrich.
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GIANT DUAL SLALOM DETERMINES THE QUEEN OF CRANWORX: JILL KINTNER
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dual Slalom is a gut-busting, and in this case dust-kicker, of a race, which sees riders pitted head-to-head down the tight turns to the finish line, and it is one of the hardest disciplines to master in the skills omnium that is the King or Queen of Crankworx. The King and Queen of Crankworx are the season-long competitions to collect as many points as possible, in as many disciplines, during the three Crankworx World Tour stops, and Kintner has dominated all season, having set her sights squarely on the Crankworx competitions, rather than UCI World Cup racing. Crankworx Whistler is one of three Crankworx festivals held around the world, and is now in its 14th year, with seven live broadcast events. The other two stops are in Rotorua, New Zealand, in March, and Les Gets, France, in June. “I train full-on like I’m racing World Cup downhill, pretty much, but there’s like a little bit more of a fitness aspect because you have to go like back to back to back days. So twice a day, every day, or six days a week,” she said. Saturday’s race actually saw Kintner oust the inaugural Queen of the Crankworx World Tour, Anneke Beerten, in what’s rumored to be Kintner's best discipline—the Dual Slalom. But closing in on 30 Crankworx wins, she is also clearly good at every discipline she races. “Dual Slalom is my favourite because I worked the hardest to get good at it. Downhill is the best because it means the most because it’s just challenging, and pump track is just fun,” she said “They all have their special place and I try to be as good as I can be at all of them.” The men’s GIANT Dual Slalom gold medalist will have to wait to see if he too will win the overall title. His main challenger, Sam Blenkinsop, is racing the Canadian Open DH presented by iXS tomorrow, and could oust him if he comes top-five. Slavik is not in the downhill race and decided to leave nothing in tank during this final race. “We went really over the limit, but at the same time, I was having so much fun on the bike because the course was amazing and the crowd was amazing. I was trying to be as fast as possible in the race, but that race was just sick. I just have no words for it. After the qualification I knew already that anything could happen. It’s going to be about those tiny mistakes and I haven’t done any, so I’m really stoked – in the way of my race and in the way of my performance,” said Slavik. B.C. racer Bas Van Steenbergen, meanwhile, pulled in for a third-place finish, having the season of his life. “It’s funny because once you get a win, then you’re kind of disappointed with everything else, but if you would have told me I would be third in Slalom at the start of the week, I would have been pretty stoked,” he said “I tend to do alright at this event in particular, so I was definitely kind of focused toward this one, which kind of took the pressure off the other races and I guess it worked.” On Wednesday he brought in his first major Crankworx win in the Fox Air DH and he started the week with a CLIF Bar Dual Speed & Style fourth, losing third to his brother, Tom, who threw down the first double backflip the event has ever seen to earn the first perfect 100 score. The GAINT Dual Slalom was Friday’s live broadcast event, shown on Crankworx.com and Pinkbike.com. Seven events in the 10-day festival are broadcast live, and later repackaged into extreme sports shows. Events continue through this Sunday, August 21, culminating in the marquee event this Sunday, Red Bull Joyride. This is a Slopestyle competition, which sees the athletes perform an aerial show, jumping off a string of wooden features before a crowd of 30,000-plus fans. All three stops of the Crankworx World Tour are broadcast on Crankworx.com, Pinkbike.com and the Slopestyle competition, Red Bull Joyride, is broadcast exclusively on Red Bull TV.
Results for the Dual Slalom: Pro Men Pro Women Results for the Canada Cup XC which took place earlier Friday afternoon: Men Women Complete results for both the Official Whip-Off World Championships and the Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by RockShox can be found on Crankworx.com. Photo captions: 2. Czech rider Tomas Slavik smashed through the finish line to beat Great Britain’s Bernard Kerr across the line and possibly win the King of Crankworx title, just one rider stands in his way. 3. B.C. rider Bas Van Steenbergen is having the season of his career with a first in the Fox Air DH, fourth in the CLIF Bar Dual Speed & Style and third in the GIANT Dual Slalom. |
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AUSTRALIANS SWEEP CANADIAN OPEN DH presented by iXS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Slamming down the Canadian Open DH presented by iXS in a stunning 2:43.45, three seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, he seemed to take what others were describing as a rough course, rutted by tires hitting the dust in the extreme heat of the last week in Whistler, like it was a walk in the park. “The course is awesome. I guess some people would say it’s a bit blown out, but for me it’s perfect – just like back home in Australia. I’m from Adelaide Australia, but I actually lived in Whistler for about six months last summer; so you could kind of call this my second home,” he said. He noted he suspected there were plenty of his Canadian friends lining the course, but it was a bit of a blur. Any athlete at Crankworx would say the Canadian Open is both a highlight of the week and one of the hardest events, as fellow Australian and first place finisher Tracey Hannah could attest. While the event was her best result of the week, it was also at the top of her agenda to fight for—and she went for it with great gusto. “I had a really good race. The wind got up a bit, so that makes me a bit nervous on the jumps on the bottom; but it turned out alright and I just took the parts where I needed to be safe safe ,and went hard in other sections,” she said. Standing on the sidelines, Czech athlete Tomas Slavik anxiously awaited the results of the day as New Zealand’s Sam Blenkinsop had the opportunity to beat him in the season-long, all-round points competition to win the King of Crankworx if he did well in the event. The honour was Slavik’s focus all year and, with the highest prize money in mountain biking, at $25,000, a serious boost for any racer’s next season. “The last 24 hours have just been like a never ending story. It was scary, you know; this is just a big gamble,” he said, from a hut in the finish corral. He was not racing in the event and Blenkinsop only needed a fourth place finish to take the Crown. When he slipped from within the top five, Slavik’s smile shone almost as bright as the blazing sun. “Now I’ve calmed down I’m just enjoying being King of Crankworx. It’s so sick. It’s not easy to be a racer. We always have a lot of races, a lot of trails, and it’s hard to be consistent. So I’m happy that it worked out,” he said, noting he wanted to thank his friends, family and sponsors for their support. Australian Jack Moir, meanwhile, had quite the race, waiting out over 20 athletes finishes as the man in top spot before losing out to Brosnan on the final run. He nevertheless won the Crankworx DH World Championships, earning himself a bonus $5000 he actually had no idea was on the line. “My year just started out pretty bad. I had a bit of an ongoing injury from a broken collar bone last year that flared up a bit when I was at training camp in Cali(fornia). So I missed the first World Cup, missed Crankworx in Rotorua, but made it to Les Get and still somehow won the series. Moir placed third at Crankworx Les Gets and second in the Canadian Open DH presented by iXS and said that while Crankworx is on the top of his list, the opportunity to win the series had completely escaped his attention. The Canadian Open DH presented by iXS was Saturday’s live broadcast and was shown on Crankworx.com and Pinkbike.com. Seven events in the 10-day festival are broadcast live, and later repackaged into extreme sports shows. The marquee event for the 10-day Crankworx festival and the biggest single event of the Crankworx World Tour runs tomorrow: Red Bull Joyride. This is a Slopestyle competition, which sees the athletes perform an aerial show, jumping off a string of wooden features before a crowd of 30,000-plus fans. All three stops of the Crankworx World Tour are broadcast on Crankworx.com, Pinkbike.com and the Slopestyle competition, Red Bull Joyride, is broadcast exclusively on Red Bull TV. The final broadcast runs:
Results for the Canadian Open DH presented by iXS: Pro Men Pro Women
King of Crankworx: Tomas SLAVIC (CZE) Crankworx DH Championships Winner: Jack MOIR (AUS) Complete results for both the Official Whip-Off World Championships and the Ultimate Pump Track Challenge presented by RockShox can be found on Crankworx.com. Photo captions:
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CRANKWORX ACTION HEATS UP WITH SMOKING FOX AIR DH WIN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Temperatures are soaring in the mountains, leaving the courses hot, dry, dusty and rutty for the 10-day festival as Whistler plays host to 1200 riders and 130,000 spectators. “That was nerve-wracking; it wasn’t the greatest. I would rather have dropped in a little bit earlier next time,” said Van Steenbergen, who lives and trains in Kelowna, B.C. Like many of the racers who grew up in the Crankworx scene, he has put in his time, making the pilgrimage to Whistler to race for the last six years. This was his top Crankworx result. “I got a fourth in Les Gets in Speed & Style and then a fourth here in Speed & Style, but this is definitely the highlight,” he said, sweat pouring down his brow under the blazing sun in the finish corral. Van Steenbergen and his older brother, Tom, gave the crowds quite the show just four days before during the first live broadcast event of the festival. Tom nailed the first double backflip in Dual Speed & Style history to achieve received the first perfect 100 ever awarded in the judged sport, which sees the riders races the clock and another competitor, while delivering freestyle tricks along the course.
“This was my main objective for the year. I didn’t do World Cup and I’ve kind of been on the Crankworx program. For me, it just seems like it makes more sense to be spending your resources in three stops instead of a World Tour. You get so much more media coverage. You get four days of racing in a row. I don’t know, you just get more back as an athlete and it’s just a good program—fun atmosphere,” said Kintner. Owing to the fast practice times, Kintner opted to race on a trail bike, rather than a downhill bike, and said the decision made for a sketchier ride, but may have bought her a valuable few seconds. “I felt fast, but it’s definitely hard to control your speed and you overshoot a lot of things. So I had to really scrub the jumps, and I had to time everything perfectly,” she said. The event was broadcast live on Crankworx.com and Pinkbike.com, and sold to television networks around the world as a live broadcast,t and will be packaged into shows for extreme sports networks. Crankworx Whistler is one of three Crankworx festivals held around the world, and is now in its 14th year with seven live broadcast events. The other two stops are in Rotorua, New Zealand, in March, and Les Gets, France, in June. Events continue through Sunday, August 21, culminating in the marquee event this Sunda., Red Bull Joyride is a Slopestyle competition which sees the athletes perform an aerial show, jumping off a string of wooden features before a crowd of 30,000-plus fans. All three stops of the Crankworx World Tour are broadcast on Crankworx.com, Pinkbike.com and the Slopestyle competition, Red Bull Joyride, is broadcast exclusively on Red Bull TV.
Results for the Garbanzo DH: Pro Men Pro Women Complete results for the 415 racers, including amateur and pro categories, can be found on Crankworx.com. Photo captions: Jill Kintner pins it down A-Line in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park on Wednesday afternoon, delivering a blistering 4:22.74 minute time and a fourth win in the Fox Air DH. Bas Van Steenbergen brings home his first major Crankworx win in the Fox Air DH on the Whistler Mountain Bike Parks world-renown downhill trail A-Line.
_______ Through dirt, sweat and cheers, Crankworx celebrates the epic endurance, supreme flow, monster air and heart-stopping drops of gravity mountain biking. Anointed by dirt, powered by passion, the Crankworx World Tour travels to Rotorua, New Zealand and Les Gets, France and culminates in its Canadian home base of Whistler, B.C. |
The Fox Air DH is one of three downhill races at Crankworx and American Jill Kintner made her star shine a little brighter after bringing in her fourth win in the event, and moving her ever-closer to securing the 2016 Queen of the Crankworx title. The title is bestowed on the athlete who accrues the most points for out-competing the field in all disciplines on all levels, and Kintner has enjoyed a strong lead all week.