X Games 16: Street Photos and Recap

Words and Photos: Mike Yoshida

To kick off the sixteenth year of X games, the newest competition of snowboard street was showcased. The top jibbers from the US and Canada arrived to show us some of the craziest moves we've seen in a while. The likes of: Forest Bailey, Zak Hale, Ethan Deiss, Nick Visconti, Louif Paradis, Phil Jacques, Ryan Paul, Johnnie Paxson, Dylan Alito and more, were giving the crowd what they came to see. Hardway 270's, 450's on and off, front lip to container smash, and half cab to backflip were some of the more difficult tricks thrown. Louif was buttery smooth with 270's on and off, Ethan had some insane shifty to 270 manuevers, and the standout clown Dylan Alito was terrorizing the course with his antics, dropping in whenever and not listening to the event coordinators. In the end it came down to three riders, who all rode insanely in their own way. Nick Visconti who came in third did a hardway cab 3 onto a flat down bar while Ryan Paul in second, did a numerous amount of hardway spinning and even attempted a hardway 450 onto the down bar. In the end he settled for a half cab on backflip out of the down flat ledge. Forest Bailey is a name that all will recognize after today. Bailey continually destroyed this course. He started with the flat container, where he landed tailslide oppo out, and 270'd the whole thing out to the flats. Then the Vermont native proceeded to do every hardway 270, cab and regular, with the best style I have ever seen. His skate influenced way of riding really shines through, and he obviously deserved his first ever X games gold.