Andreas Håtveit Wins Dew Cup
A second place at Mt. Snow, Vermont, secured Andreas Håtveit the Overall Dew Tour victory in Slopestyle. A series of three podiums in three events, including a win in Breckenridge, Colorado, earned the ATOMIC team rider the coveted trophy of freeskiing’s most important event series.
It’s high season for competition skiers. Only one week after the X Games in Aspen the next contest highlight followed at Mt. Snow, Vermont. The East Coast resort hosted the final stop of the Dew Tour, the most prestigious event series of the freeskiing season with live coverage on national TV. Entering the slopestyle finals, five riders still had the chance to win the overall title including the complete X Games podium consisting of Bobby Brown, Andreas Håtveit and Sammy Carlson. Favourites were of course tour co-leaders Andreas Håtveit and Tom Wallisch, who both had a win and a second-place-finish on their tour record.
When the heat was on, Andreas Håtveit wasted no time to make his ambitions known. A combination of Switch 450° On and 450° Off at the top rails, followed by a Switch Rightside 900°, a Misty 630° off the canon box to a 270° onto the down rail and finally Switch 900° to Double Cork 1080° on the kicker line meant the lead after the first run. In the second round, Bobby Brown stepped it up with 450° Disaster to 450° Off, Switch Rightside Misty 900°, 630° off the canon box, 270° On 270° Off at the down rail and a combination of Switch Misty 900° and Double Cork 1260° on the bottom kickers. With a simply flawless run the Breckenridge local passed the Norwegian for yet another event victory and second place in the overall rankings.
Nobody else managed to top Andreas Håtveit at this day, though. Tom Wallisch finished seventh, but kept his third place overall. Sammy Carlson finished third for the day and fourth on the tour. Andreas’ ATOMIC team mate Jossi Wells had arguably the best run of the day until the final jump, but then caught an edge. A not-so-perfect first effort put him in eighth position at Mt. Snow and sixth place overall. Thus, when Andreas Håtveit entered the course for the second time, his tour title was already safe. With another great success under his belt and following a shaky landing in the top part of the course, he opted to entertain the crowd with some old-school tricks including a big layout backflip over the final kicker. At the bottom, the 23-year-old was stoked on his triumph: “People consider me to be a pretty consistent skier, and to be rewarded for that is awesome!” To call one victory and two second-place-finishes in three occasions consistent, is typical Scandinavian understatement.