The 11th Red Bull Nanshan Open Finals in Beijing, China this week had to be altered due to constant snowfall causing speed issues for all riders involved. The decision was made to call the 5Star World Snowboard Tour Finals off and a plan B was created for the afternoon.
This didn’t stop the riders' itch to put on a show, and after agreeing to leave the Qualifier results stand, the inaugural 11th Red Bull Nanshan Open Super Method-Off & Rail-Jam Bonus Round was held on Jan. 20.
The qualified riders would be judged on their best method grab off the first kicker, a knuckle trick on the second kicker table and ‘choose-your-line’ on the jib section – battling for a mini-prize pool of $6,000.
The local crowd, and up to 1.6 billion live TV viewers, were treated to an awesome display of methods, each rider showing their individual style – a nice contrast to the dizzying spins of the previous day's runs.
At the end of the day it was the competition’s youngest rider Darcy Sharpe, a member of the Canadian National Snowboard team, who threw down the most judge-pleasing run for a first place finish. The 16-year old from Comox must still have that youth-flexibility, with by far the highest and most tweaked-out method of the day off the big kicker, finishing it off with a half-cab to backside 360-off on the up-pipe and a back 270 on, 270 out on the down rail.
Based on Monday's results, Sharpe finished fourth in the Nanshan men's open division.
– Nanshan Open