Red Bull Playsteets just finished its 8th Annual slopestyle competition in Bad Gastein, Austria.
With Oystein Braaten taking the win over fellow up and comer skier Andri Ragettli and close friend Jesper Tjader.
However this isn’t a competition recap of people’s run with detail analysis as to why Oystein won.
Jesper Tjader, 3rd.
Oystein Braaten, 1st.
The tight cornering and little to no room for mistakes make for an action packed thrilling slopestyle competition.
Which rivals that of X-Games and Dew Tour.
Red Bull Playstreets in my opinion, is one of the most under rated competitions of the year.
Like the people down under whose proxy servers are blocked by ESPN.
And by then the novelty of the event has worn off.
The full video replay is also pulling in the views on YouTube.
With just over 50k views in 5 days.
This is an example of just how muc demand there is for full video replays of events.
The Course…
The course itself is the main reason as to why it doesn’t become a huck fest.
Traditionally film skiers and comp skiers don’t mix.
Is Playstreets the first step between uniting freeskiing once again?
Probably not, there will always be a divide between filming and competition.
But it does provide a middle ground for both sides to come together.
Ahmet Dadali about to drop in during practice
The Format…
Most competitions require one average run and one great run.
Often in competitions, it is the best of two runs for the finals.
And often it is luck along with good skiing that will put you on top of the podium.
(No disrespect to Nick, Joss and Alex).
This means you need four different runs to win the competition.
However, I do have one criticism of Playstreets.
Why aren’t woman competing?
Overall, Playstreets is a one of a kind competition.
It’s allowing style back into our sport while still focusing on progression.
After all we are FREE skiers???
Thankyou for reading “What we need to learn from Red Bull Playstreets…”.
An opinion piece by Eric Brunsdon.
