http://mpora.com/videos/SeELfgP7u With so little separating Halldor Helgason, Ulrik Badertscher, Stale Sandbech, Gjermund Braten and Sage Kotsenberg, you’d think they’d all be using every possible opportunity to polish their X-Games slopestyle routine.

Naaaaaaaaah. Not when there’s a straight air session to be had! Stale gives it some straight-leg-straight-air, but Halldor soon upstages him with a big-ass method and showboating backflip. He’s earned the right to relax a little, having had to guinea-pig the big air jump.

The X-Games is still the biggest event on the snowboard calendar to kick off, and this year the stakes are higher than ever, so it’s good to see the guys managed to have some fun beforehand.