In a weekend dominated by debates on style vs. technicality, with possibly the spiniest big air event ever and then Max Parrot’s back-to-back triples in the men’s slopestyle, for some last night’s halfpipe finals came as a breath of fresh air.

In a field where only eight points separated the top five riders, it was going to take something special to come out on top. Iouri Podladtchikov, first in qualifying and favourite to win, arguably could have taken the win, spinning stylish 9s spun like they were 5s and signature huge method, but failed to land his YOLO flip. Whilst he did manage to stick a whole run eventually he ended up in an unusual sixth place.

Scotty James and Ben Ferguson both stuck runs with huge airs and big spins, but the medals started with Greg Bretz’s first run. Landing back-to-back frontside double corks, 9s and then 10s his run was a run down of all but the biggest tricks from the last ten years.

In a refreshing break from the spinny madness his winning run included a huge back 360, coming in blind to an equally massive switch method

ESPN’s X Games host Louie Vito managed to grab an unexpected second place by throwing four double cork variations back-to-back straight out of the gates and beating out the majority of the US team he just failed to qualify for. Thankfully there was a back-up host on the night and he didn’t have to award himself his own silver.

But the winner on the night was, in a class of his own, Danny Davis. In a refreshing break from the spinny madness his winning run included a huge back 360, coming in blind to an equally massive switch method, both done so well you wonder why they’ve not been seen for so long in halfpipe contests. He did spin some doubles; a front 10 and a crippler, but other than I-Pod’s his were the best looking of the night, especially coupled with his signature chicken-wing McTwist.

Admittedly this doesn’t give much of a hint to what might happen in Sochi next month, with Shaun White and Ayumu Hirano both missing from the proceedings

And that was it for the X Games crazyness this year. Whichever side of the style/progression debate you come down on you can’t argue that both had their share of the spotlight this year; Halldor Helgason and Danny Davis for the method lovers and Max Parrot setting a new triple-corking standard. Let us know what you think below, but before you do make sure you check out the vids from last night.

x games 2014 – danny davis’ winning halpipe run

X GAMES 2014 LOUIE VITO’S SECOND PLACE HALFPIPE RUN

X GAMES 2014 GREG BRETZ’S THIRD PLACE halfpipe RUN

X GAMES 2014 – MEN’S HALFPIPE RESULTS

RANK	NAME	RUN 1	RUN 2	RUN 3	BEST
1	Danny Davis	R37.66	R95.00	93.66	95.00
2	Louie Vito	R10.66	R93.00	16.00	93.00
3	Greg Bretz	R89.33	R87.00	21.33	89.33
4	Scotty James	R65.00	R85.33	88.00	88.00
5	Ben Ferguson	R49.33	R87.00	43.33	87.00
6	Iouri Podladtchikov	R30.00	R31.00	83.33	83.33
7	Yiwei Zhang	R81.66	R26.00	52.00	81.66
8	Benji Farrow	R23.33	6.66	59.00	59.00