Southbury Brothers Land Big At Burton US Open Vail Colorado

Southbury's Okesson brothers represented the East Coast and Okemo Mountain School in the 2020 Burton US Open. The Open is known as the World’s Greatest Snowboard Event in which riders and fans from all over the world flock to Vail to compete in the holy grail of competitive snowboarding. Tommy Okesson (Southbury, CT) competed in the Junior Jam along with teammate Sumner Orr (Vermont) last Tuesday which is comprised of an invited field of sixteen of the world’s best up and coming halfpipe riders under the age of fifteen years old. The pipe build this year was different than a traditional 22’ and was a modified pipe which consisted of a 13’ pipe that rolled into a traditional 22’ super pipe. The course setup was challenging for some but Tommy and Sumner adapted quite quickly during practice and were both able to put together some creative lines and heavy tricks on event day. Tommy Okesson ended up in 9^th place.

In the Pro Division, Okemo Mountain School senior athlete Joey Okesson was able to secure a #2 alternate spot and received a last minute call from Burton’s Head of Events, that they were able to secure a spot for Joey with the top guns. Joey was thrilled to have an opportunity to show the world what he can do in the pipe and was not going to hold back. Under bluebird skies and spring temps, the Pro semifinals took place on Thursday February 27th with a start-studded lineup of the world’s best pipe riders that included Scotty James (AUS), Yuto Totsuka (JAP), and Danny Davis (USA). Joey was one of the first to drop and handled the pipe with ease with one of his stock runs that put him in the middle of the field. He knew however, that to make top ten and land a spot in Saturday’s finals, he needed to put down his best run which included his double crippler, a nine and a ten. Joey nailed his last run and qualified in 7^th place to land him in the finals.

On Saturday February 29th from Vail, the halfpipe final was televised internationally live by Red Bull TV. In Finals, the format switched from a two-run format to a three-run format and Joey’s first two runs were technical and very large but was unable to stand up on his last hit, a frontside 1080. With one run left and immense pressure going into his last and final run, Joey was able to put down one of the most impressive runs of the day starting with a skate-influenced upper section in the mini pipe, followed by some of the highest airs of the day with a massive double crippler, followed by a super smooth back nine, and he punctuated the run with a soaring front-side 1080. The scores came in and Joey deservedly received a high score of an 84.6! Joey ultimately placed 5^th and was the top American finisher at the event. Joey is coached by Luke Bonang and team from Okemo Mountain School in Ludlow Vermont and his coaches and school are immensely proud of his unforgettable clutch performance in the world’s biggest halfpipe setting, the Burton US Open. There is no doubt, that the future is very bright for this young seventeen year old as well as his younger brother Tommy.

About the Open:

The history of the Open began in 1982 where the event was held in Suicide Six and three years later the event was moved to Stratton Mountain where it was held from 1985-2012 and subsequently had been held in Vail since 2013. This year, the event paid homage to its founder, Jake Burton who passed away last fall after years of battling cancer. His vision had a profound impact on the sport ultimately brought snowboarding to the forefront of action sports and to the Olympics. Ride on Jake!