A crowd of about 1,500 people gathered on Friday afternoon to witness the Evil Knevil launching of some of the best pros in the world in the Big Air demo at Heavenly. While Big Air’s are usually one of the more popular contests to enter, this one had a less star-studded cast than usual because many of the top pros were competing in the halfpipe contest the next day, and were concerned about injury.

Spinners were the rulers of the day.

For those that have never witnessed a Big Air demo, imagine a long ramp like the type on the side of the highway used for runaway semis, a large roller/kicker in the middle of the run, and a steep slope for landing. This is a contest that often seems more like a circus act than anything. The media love to film the guts and glory of it, and spectators seem to find a certain thrill in watching humans huck themselves high into the air while inverting or spinning as gravity takes hold, pulling them back down to a speedy runout.

Big Air contests are notoriously injury prone events, and this one was no exception. Nicola Thost, the number one qualifier for the halfpipe competition, took a bad fall in the beginning, which unfortunately injured her well enough that she didn’t compete in the halfpipe finals the following day. Sporting sunglasses at the awards party on the last night, Nicola occasional showed her shiner off. Big Air battle wounds.

The Big Air took place Friday after a morning of duel slalom at the area, replacing spandex clad racers with freestylers. All of the contestants were required to submit a resume to enter, which meant the best were chosen for the exhibition. Tahoe local Jimmy Halopoff got the crowd cheering with some excellent gravity defying acrobatics that kept him in the contest until the final round. His bravery was bold, but not quite enough as he was beat by Kevin Jones who took home the first place spot and 4,000 dollars. Second and third was a tie between Sebu Kuhlberg and Dave Lee.

In the women’s Barrett Christy took first with a nice backside 360 (incidentally the same trick she won the X Games Big Air with). Second place went to Jamie McCloud and third went to Natasza Zurek.

Timing Error Forces Slalom Rescheduling (2-27-97)
Championship Halfpipe Qualifiers Delayed (2-27-97)
What's the World Championship All About Anyway? (2-26-97)
The European ISF Worlds AT Tahoe (2-26-97)

Back to the '97 ISF World Championship Index

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