by The Editors on February 5, 2014
Yesterday, Wednesday, February 5, 2014 Kelly Slater won the Volcom Pipe Pro ASP 5-Star event at Pipeline. Yes, 2 John Florence was there, Jamie O’Brien and a crew of other hard-charging locals were in it, and the surf was macking (see Bielmann photo above), so it wasn’t exactly like Kelly was playing in the kiddie pool. Mr. Slater was happy with his performance no matter the details.
“This was some of the best Pipe I’ve ever surfed in my life,” said Slater. “There were some really gnarly, intense, kind of vicious waves this morning. It was really doubling up, a new swell, it was a little bit wonky. . . There were a couple waves that I got right in that little sweet spot where you can just barely make the wave. It did feel like there was definitely some room out there to work on things and the opportunity was there because when the wave gets really intense, you’ve got to just totally commit, and you can see if a guys committed or not, and you can choose to be like that.”
Congrats to Kelly. Brazil’s Wiggolly Dantas finished second, and Mason Ho and Adriano De Souza rounded out the top four [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 4, 2014
After analyzing the slopestyle course in Sochi and calculating exactly what he needs to accomplish at the 2014 Winter Olympics Shaun White has withdrawn from the slopestyle event to “focus on winning an unprecedented third straight gold.”
“After much deliberation with my team, I have made the decision to focus solely on trying to bring home the third straight gold medal in halfpipe for Team USA,” White said. “The difficult decision to forego slopestyle is not one I take lightly as I know how much effort everyone has put into holding the slopestyle event for the first time in Olympic history, a history I had planned on being part of.”
It’s too bad the halfpipe didn’t come first in the schedule. For the official word from US Snowboarding follow the jump.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 4, 2014
Just as a reminder to see how far snowboarding has come in the last 16 years, check out this edit of the 1998 Nagano Olympic medal runs by Ross Powers, Daniel Franck, and Gian Simmen with the world’s first halfpipe gold medal. Wow. Follow the jump for the full final results [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 3, 2014
How is Shaun White preparing for the Olympic Games? He took to Twitter to show that he’s been dining on a local delicacy saying: “Food in Russia is amazing! #McSochi” Wonder if this is part of a “viral marketing” campaign? Might as well get paid to eat, too.
by The Editors on February 3, 2014
During training on the Olympic Slopestyle course on Monday (February 3, 2014), Norway’s Torstein Horgmo went down on a rail and ended up breaking his collar bone, according to a story in the Sydney Morning Herald.
The 26-year-old crashed on the slopestyle run’s rail feature and was taken to hospital with his neck in a brace. . . Horgmo suffered a broken collarbone and was pulled from the Games. . . “I am terribly sorry about this. Injuries and falls are a part of this sport but the timing is really bad. Now I just want to have a fast recovery and to get back on the board,” said Horgmo.
Athletes have reportedly been complaining that the Slopestyle course was not built properly. Australia’s Torah Bright was quoted as saying:
“The business’s best aren’t here building the course. . . When jumps aren’t built properly, if they don’t match up, yeah it can be a safety issue. But as long as the jumps are built fine, we’re all very experienced in our chosen disciplines, we’ll be able to manage it. It really shouldn’t be a problem.”
We hope Horgmo recovers quickly, and that the course gets fixed so it won’t cause more injuries.
[Link: Sydney Morning Herald]
by The Editors on February 3, 2014
Jon Rose and friends are making valiant efforts to get clean water to people who need it through his Waves For Water initiative. Now, Nike is taking this opportunity to upgrade their social conscience (and their Hurley surf division) by participating in World Water Day 2014.
Five groups of Clean Water Couriers will lead missions to five different parts of the globe: Brazil, Haiti, Indonesia, Liberia and Nicaragua. Each team of key advocates will include Hurley Surfers and ambassadors to participate in the distribution of water filtration units. The teams will be bringing with them 1,000 water filters for a single-day activation (March 22, 2014), with capacity to provide clean-water access for 100,000 people. . . “We typically work in a very lean and covert fashion to maximize our efficiency on the ground, but since this specific project is just as much about awareness as it is action,” says Waves For Water Founder Jon Rose. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to bring some of our longtime friends and advocates – Carissa Moore, Rosario Dawson, Rob Machado, Alex Atala, and more – along for the ride.”
From the official word from Rose and Hurley, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 3, 2014
Burton Snowboards held their US Open Snowboarding Qualifiers over the weekend at Seven Springs in Pennsylvania and the upshot is that Chase Josey and Summer Fenton won the pipe and Zach Normandin and Japan’s Asami Hirono won Slope.
At the event, the six best men and three women per discipline earned a coveted spot to compete against some the world’s best riders at the iconic 32nd annual Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships in Vail, Colorado from March 3rd – March 8th, 2014, as well as valuable 4star World Snowboard Tour points and a piece of the $20,000 prize purse.
For the official results, and all the people who won a spot at the US Open in Vail, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
by The Editors on February 2, 2014
Really don’t know how we missed this one. Maybe it’s because we never watch Larry King Now. But 48 Block alerted us to this interesting interview with Rob Dyrdek. In the interview we realized that there is no getting around it: Rob Dyrdek lives his life and makes things happen.
[Link: 48 Blocks]
by The Editors on January 31, 2014
SMI Snow Makers, a family run, Michigan based company, has set up massively technical snowmaking facilities in Sochi, Russian to make certain that there is enough snow Winter Olympics. With setup that looks more like NASA Mission Control and 400 snow guns, SMI is going to make it happen, according to this edit from National Geographic. And as these are the “most expensive Olympics” ever, we’re hoping SMI gets their monster slice.
by The Editors on January 31, 2014
Wonder why they signed this guy? Nope. Sebo Walker delivers the proof.
[Link: Krooked Skateboards]
