World's First 'Open Loop' Slide Completed By Jesper Tj?der
"My name is Jesper Tj?der, and we don't have a good name for this one."
So starts the video documenting Tj?der's latest and greatest stunt.
It's true: expressing his penchant for wacky, almost circus-like skiing in words isn't easy, even for the mastermind himself. I'll try anyway.
This time, Tj?der slid a loop rail with an on-brand twist—the middle was missing.
Tj?der first slid a closed-loop rail in 2016. "I've been thinking about this open loop ever since I attempted the regular one. It feels fantastic to finally have completed it," said Tj?der in a press release from Red Bull.
The stunt went down in ?re, Sweden. Tj?der attempted the open loop rail 42 times before putting it to his feet.
"It was both easier and harder than I thought. I didn't expect to slide out so many times on the landing, so that was the toughest part. But at the same time, I came close many times. It's hard to say, each attempt was a unique feeling," he explained.
For those first tuning in, this is kind of Tj?der's thing. Since the release of his first viral Unrailistic video, he's become known for constructing and skiing strange, dreamlike rail features designed to test and expand the perceived limits of human athleticism.
Judith Bergstr?m / Red Bull Content Pool
Last year, Tj?der invited the world's best freeskiers to ?re for a competition fashioned after his Unrailistic video series. During the event, competitors faced an intimidating slew of equally colossal and imaginative rails, some of which previously appeared in the Unrailistic videos.
The outsized rails weren't the competition's unique aspect. The format, which only scored the best portions of a rider's run, allowed competitors to take more creative risks than they could in standard slopestyle competitions.
"At World Cups, you have to compete at 80% of your level. If you go 100%, you get a crash score, so you ski at a little bit of a lower level than 100%," Tj?der told me in an interview last year, explaining the differing strains of freeskiing competitions. "But at Jib League, Unrailistic, Nines, and all those events, you can ski 100%. You can try and ski 110%."
Related: Dreaming of Metal With Jesper Tj?der
The Unrailistic event's second official iteration will take place later this month on April 26th, featuring stars like Tom Wallisch, Mathilde Gremaud, and Henrik Harlaut. Red Bull is hosting the competition and will offer a free live stream of all the action.
Related: GoPro Camera Survives Sweeping Avalanche In Colorado
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