There is something different about the Burton U.S. Open of Snowboarding.
For a fan, the Burton U.S. Open of Snowboarding Championships delivers on a unique environment to watch the event with different course set ups and a great sponsor village to interact with athletes and concerts.
For Scotty James, the Burton U.S. Open delivered a perfect season, as he swept the major events of the year.
For Maddie Mastro, the Burton U.S. Open delivered her first win, and in doing so, landing a first ever trick and ultimately beating the queen of women’s snowboarding halfpipe, Chloe Kim.
Scotty James is easily the best men’s halfpipe snowboarder in competition right now. For the 2018-2019 season, James is undefeated winning X Games, FIS World Championships, Dew Tour and the Burton U.S. Open to name a few. But winning the Burton U.S. Open is always a target for every rider.
“The thing that makes the U.S. Open different to the other competitions is that it’s a snowboarder’s event,” said James. “It’s run by snowboarders for snowboarders with so much history behind it. So winning here at the open for a snowboarder is a career moment.”
Maddie Mastro is no stranger to the halfpipe but the top of the podium has always eluded her until she pushed the level of women’s riding up a notch and landed the first ever double crippler in competition and in doing so, landed herself on the top of the podium beating Chloe Kim, a difficult feat in its’ own right.
“I’m just fully overwhelmed,” said Mastro. “This is my first contest win, and for it to be at the U.S. Open is this incredible amazing feeling. This trick (double crippler) is something I want to be doing consistently and make progression a norm for women’s snowboarding. To be here with the win is incredible. For me, the U.S. Open is one of the best events of the year, but winning it makes it so much sweeter. It was just a matter of managing my energy throughout the week with all these activities going on around competition. The Burton U.S. Open is a super fun rider-focused event. It’s a place where you can end the season having fun with your friends. That’s the big difference between U.S. Open and the rest of the contests – there’s a little less pressure but you still want to win.”
All time women’s snowboarding legend Kelly Clark, who retired from competition riding this season and transitioned into commentating, put it best, “We saw so much great riding out here today, but most of all what we saw was progression!”
With so much progression and high level riding, the fans in attendance and event those that watched on the live stream were treated to one of the best contests of the season.
“The crowd is always awesome at the U.S. Open,” said James. “It’s something I always embrace and enjoy the atmosphere a crowd can bring to the halfpipe finals. I definitely try and enjoy the other events of the U.S. Open and take in the atmosphere of the activities around my event like the live music, but the great thing about the U.S. open its a spectator friendly event so on comp day there is always a great crowd.”
The Burton U.S. Open of Snowboarding Championships aside from its name sponsor Burton, is powered by Red Bull. For James and Mastro that just made winning the event even better as both are Red Bull sponsored athletes.
Both spoke about what being a part of Red Bull means for them in terms of elevating their riding and training.
“Red Bull gives me opportunities to explore outside of snowboarding in the High Performance area which helps me with my on snow performance such as dry land training, access to awesome facilitates to train in and more,” said James. “It has changed the way I ride and compete. You can see that in the results I have experienced in the past few years.”
“Red Bull has been incredible,” said Mastro. “I’ve been able work with a High Performance coach and it’s been super beneficial for my snowboarding. From content creation to just having people there, it’s been great.”
Seems like it Maddie. Enjoy that first win.