Empire Attire

By Brian Schroy

 

This past weekend Gus Kenworthy and Jossi Wells were busy at work for the 100% Pure New Zealand Winter Games. The action began in the halfpipe where Jossi finished in second place and Gus took home the gold. Gus’s winning run featured a left cork 900 tail grab to a right cork 720 tail, back to back switch 720 mutes, alley-oop flat spin 540 Japan, and a left cork 1080 tail grab to finish it off.

 

The next day was the highly anticipated slopestyle competition, where Gus and Jossi managed to do it again. Gus received his second gold medal and Jossi took home another silver. Gus started his run with a 450 to switch off of the down rail, straight into a switch 270 on to rodeo 630 off the cannon box. In the jump line he stomped a double cork twelve sixty mute into a switch right 1080 tail into a switch 540 onto the lily pad and a rodeo 540 off.

 

The final men’s event for freesking was big air. Gus continued his streak by qualifying in first, but had a little trouble in the finals. He finished with a solid sixth place result. Jossi found himself on the podium with a bronze medal for the third contest in a row. This is a great start to an early season for these two Empire rippers. Jossi faced some injuries last season and it is great to see him back on his feet and killing the competition. Hopefully, this event will foreshadow what is to come in the upcoming competitions.