Some big names failed to advance to Saturday’s X Games slopestyle finals, as Red Gerard qualified in first place. Check his run, who’s in, and who’s not…

The final major event before things go all five-ringed in Korea next month got underway in Aspen yesterday as the X Games kicked off with Men’s snowboard slopestyle qualification. Only five riders were to move on to Saturday’s final, where they’ll meet up with Mark McMorris, Marcus Kleveland and Tyler Nicholson… for reasons we’re sure are clear to some.

Despite Ståle calling the course “one of the sickest” he’s ridden in a long time, it seemed to be causing problems for the riders yesterday. Whether it was running slow or just one of those freak things that happen, precious few full runs were put down.

There were a bunch of heavy hitters who missed out. Ståle, Torgeir, Seb Toutant, Max Parrot and more who you might expect to have a say in the business end of things having a bad day at the office and failing to put down the kind of runs they needed to advance.

But one guy looking damn good was Red Gerard. Ultra tech throughout the littered rail garden, he blasted into the kickers to put down a switch back 12, a front 10 double off the sidehit transfer, and a back 14 triple on his final run. This was enough to see him through the qualifiers in first place.

Women’s slope qualification is today, and we’re pumped to see what the chicas can conjure up on this setup. If you’d down to tune in, here’s the schedule yo.

Full Men’s Slopestyle Qualification Results

1. Red Gerard
2. Darcy Sharpe
3. Chris Corning
4. Kyle Mack
5. Yuki Kadono
6. Torgeir Bergrem
7. Sebastien Toutant
8. Max Parrot
9. Nik Baden
10. Stale Sandbech
11. Judd Henkes
12. Brandon Davis
13. Mons Roisland
14. Carlos Garcia Knight
15. Sebbe De Buck