Anton Thelander wins Red Bull Phenom
This young Swede just can’t be stopped! After achieving a sensational third place at Red Bull Berg Line in May, Anton Thelander reached for gold at Red Bull Phenom in Munich. His team-mate Thomas Genon placed amongst the top 10 at the very first mountain bike slopestyle event in the history of X Games.
This highlight clip provides an entertaining summary of the eventful X Games Munich weekend
[youtube]http://youtu.be/Q8Bbpfh91Us[/youtube]
Red Bull Phenom is a series of events that encourages aspiring young talents in the fields of skate, BMX and mountain biking to compete on a global platform. For X Games Munich, four slopestyle riders were selected from a self-made 60-second video and two more based on the so-called FMB World Tour 52 week seeding list which records the results of all FMB World Tour riders from the last 52 weeks and ranks them accordingly. Anton Thelander was in the lead among riders who had not yet participated at a diamond level event and so earned his ticket to participate in Munich.
It is very obvious that this invitation was more than justified. Neither the challenging course – where coincidently the real slopestyle competition was held also – nor the fluctuating wind and weather conditions deterred Anton from executing a phenomenal run on his new Canyon dirt bike, down the historic Olympic Hill. The wind made it far from easy for Anton and the other riders and slips during their runs were not uncommon. Anton didn’t make it all the way down on his first run after catching a strong gust on the step up.
However, he nailed the second one with a clean flat spin 360, two tailwhips, two barspins and a stunning 360 over the 30 foot final drop. Judge and freeride legend Richie Schley has absolutely no quarrel with Anton’s achievement and is convinced the top spot is his for the taking.
Thomas Genon was also struggling with the wind. Thanks to his outstanding achievements over the past 52 weeks, he was invited as number 1 to X Games Munich. For the young Belgian a childhood dream came true and he traveled optimistically to Munich. In the end, he decided not to ride the finals for safety reasons as he was sick the days prior to the event. So he finished with a respectable place among the top 10 of the world’s best riders at X Games Munich.
This Canyon event clip on takes you behind the scenes and shows Anton’s and Thomas’ best runs on the X Games Munich Mountain Bike Slopestyle course.
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