skategoat Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Not sure if anyone noticed but the bronze medalist in this morning's Men's Snowboard Cross SB-LL2, Gurimu Narita (JPN) was wearing a Deeluxe hard boot on his front foot with F2 binding. His rear foot was a traditional soft boot. I didn't see the final but in qualifying Narita was absolutely flying. He had the fastest qualifying time in a very deep and talented field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottishsurfer Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) rear binding im pretty sure is a flux xf, also is it just me or is he riding duck! Edited March 12, 2018 by scottishsurfer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) 5 minutes ago, scottishsurfer said: rear binding im pretty sure is a flux xf, also is it just me or is he riding duck! Good eye. It appears he is riding duck. Got a little more intel on Narita. His left leg is paralyzed below the knee. I'm guessing the hard boot is there for support. Pretty smart of him to try it. There must be some other adaptive snowboarders who could benefit from that. And damn good thing FIS isn't in charge of Para. They would ban the hard boots for being un-snowboardy. Edited March 12, 2018 by skategoat 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveo Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 6 minutes ago, scottishsurfer said: rear binding im pretty sure is a flux xf, also is it just me or is he riding duck! Don't a few SBX riders ride either duck, very low or 0 angle on backfoot? 12 minutes ago, skategoat said: Gurimu Narita (JPN) was wearing a Deeluxe hard boot on his front foot with F2 binding. His rear foot was a traditional soft boot. SB-LL2 is for lower limb impaired athletes, this may have something to do with the boot arrangement. Also, did anyone else see that SNOWBOARD BANKED SLALOM is an event?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveo Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 2 minutes ago, skategoat said: And damn good thing FIS isn't in charge of Para. They would ban the hard boots for being un-snowboardy. I'm kind of worried they're going to ban snowboards soon for being un-snowboardy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 18 minutes ago, daveo said: I'm kind of worried they're going to ban snowboards soon for being un-snowboardy. Same coach who told me I was ruining snowboarding told me he likes to ride wearing Sorels. Maybe that's the direction FIS is going. That should do wonders to grow our sport /sarcasm. Quote Don't a few SBX riders ride either duck, very low or 0 angle on backfoot? I don't know any SBX riders who ride duck but some ride low angles, close to 0 on the back foot. Mostly the guys with freestyle backgrounds like Jarryd Hughes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveo Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 1 minute ago, skategoat said: I don't know any SBX riders who ride duck but some ride low angles, close to 0 on the back foot. Mostly the guys with freestyle backgrounds like Jarryd Hughes. Right, got it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lonbordin Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 3 minutes ago, skategoat said: He's dangerously close to tight pants... you know the rules!!! No aero clothing in a speed event! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Teammate Diachi Oguri had the same setup. This opens up a secondary market for selling one boot or one binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveo Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 9 minutes ago, skategoat said: Teammate Diachi Oguri had the same setup. This opens up a secondary market for selling one boot or one binding. That's interesting considering his amputation is on his right leg and he rides natural, which makes me think perhaps the reason why Gurimu Narita is riding a single hardboot isn't due to lower limb impairment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mig Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have tried this for awhile in the very early 90s. I was inspired to do it after seeing riders like Dave Dowd and Dave Lemieux riding similar setups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkaholic Posted March 12, 2018 Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 1 hour ago, Mig said: I have tried this for awhile in the very early 90s. I was inspired to do it after seeing riders like Dave Dowd and Dave Lemieux riding similar setups. Dowd with his hardboot up front and Redwing boot on the back for heel lift. That was back in his Naked Board days. Here is one with Koflack up front and softie in back from Kemper days. Ink 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 12, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 12, 2018 Oguri was 7th and Narita was 3rd. So maybe they are onto something. Will have to keep an eye on the banked slalom. I hope I can stay awake long enough to watch the final. BTW, the women's LL2 gold medalist, Bibian Mentel-Spee is an incredible story. She was the Dutch SBX and HP champion and would have made the 2002 Olympics but was diagosed with cancer and had to have a leg amputated. She came back as a para snowboarder, won multiple championships including the 2014 Gold. Then cancer came back in her spine last July. She had surgery in January and here she is, a gold medalist again - two months later. What a boss. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guido591 Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 8 hours ago, skategoat said: Same coach who told me I was ruining snowboarding told me he likes to ride wearing Sorels. What does coach Sorel believe that you are doing to “ruin snowboarding”? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordmetroland Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 10 hours ago, skategoat said: That's some seriously Bruce Lee lookin' type s*** right there... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobD Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emdee406 Posted March 13, 2018 Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 8 hours ago, skategoat said: Oguri was 7th and Narita was 3rd. So maybe they are onto something. Will have to keep an eye on the banked slalom. I hope I can stay awake long enough to watch the final. BTW, the women's LL2 gold medalist, Bibian Mentel-Spee is an incredible story. She was the Dutch SBX and HP champion and would have made the 2002 Olympics but was diagosed with cancer and had to have a leg amputated. She came back as a para snowboarder, won multiple championships including the 2014 Gold. Then cancer came back in her spine last July. She had surgery in January and here she is, a gold medalist again - two months later. What a boss. I met Bibian back in ‘97 when we were both on the Wirld Cup Tour, and SBX was just taking off...she was unstoppable as an able bodied athlete! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted March 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2018 The head-to-head finals races are up on Youtube now. Besides Oguri and Narita, there was Bruno Bosnjak from Croatia who wore hard boots on both feet. And if you want to see guys rip, check out the final with Matti Suur-Hamari and Keith Gabel. It's worth noting that Matti races in FIS SBX and has done as well as fifth at the NorAm level. He's missing his left leg below the knee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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