China’s only international-level snowboarding competition, Asia’s highest-tierSlopestylesnowboarding event, the Banana Open, took place2on26at the Changbai Mountain International Resort, where the Canadian team won both the gold and silver medals. The world No. 1 star riderMax Parrotsurprisingly lost to a competitor ranked50outside the topAntoine Truchonin the finals, settling for second place. The Canadian dark horseAntoineTruchonfought through a field of several world champions to claim the inaugural Banana Open title. American riderEric Beauchemintook third place. The 2017 World Championships winner from YabuliBrandon Daviswas awarded the Best Style Prize. Chinese rider He Wei won the Best Domestic Rider award. The Organizing Committee’s Special Award went to the popular9-year-old prodigyEli Bouchard.
In2017, he had already consecutively wonLAAX OPEN,X-Games, and the Air & Style4world titles,Max Parrotand his performance remained solid—if anything, a bit too steady—with judges awarding him80and87.67points in the first two rounds.Eric
BeaucheminAlthough he performed outstandingly in the8to4round, it seemed he had given his all, as his finals run was subpar, never reaching70points. Most disappointing was Japan’s young rider Daisuke Sato, who may have been affected by his age, as he appeared nervous during the finals and made major mistakes in all three runs.
In the end,Antoine
Truchonpulled off an upset victory, taking home the5WUSD prize purse, while the world No. 1Max
ParrotCame in second place,Eric Beaucheminwhile Daisuke Sato and Otsuka secured third and fourth places respectively.