Mikey Ciccarelli and Marion Haerty both nabbed giant, career-affirming wins. Photo: Colin Wiseman//NST
For the last few weeks, the footage and results from the Finals Day of the 2024 Natural Selection Tour have been shrouded in secrecy. But now, after the broadcast aired yesterday morning on Redbull TV, we can finally talk about two brand new NST Tour Champions plowing through a field of their heroes on their way to the podium.
Canada’s Mikey Ciccarelli and France’s Marion Haerty might not have been the names you expected to see in the headlines from the event. But after years of domination from seemingly unstoppable forces like T-Rice, Sadowski-Synott and a handful of others, this year’s podium finishers really demonstrate that anyone can win if they find a flow on comp day.
That being said, the outcome shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who watched Day One of the competition a few weeks ago. Both Mikey and Marion (a four-time Freeride World Tour champ as well) were standouts in Montana Bowl. Haerty navigated the course’s most technical section with ease after stomping a floaty backside 360 at the top of her second line. And Cicarrelli came correct with one of the day’s smoothest executions, punctuating his second run with a frontside 360 to dispatch Blake Paul, the first of many giants to be slayed along the way.
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Mikey let out a proper battle cry after stomping his air, giving us all a glimpse of the “Psycho Mike” energy that he’d take into Finals Day.
“Being able to ride under pressure knowing that I had to put a run down, I was just really stoked and proud of myself that I was able to rise to that occasion in that moment,” said Cicarrelli of his performance in the preliminary round.
As we now know, Mikey rose to the moment on Finals Day as well, taking down a laundry list of the world’s best snowboarders: Austen Sweetin, Torstein Horgmo and then Nils Mindnich in the Finals. Nils had just ended Travis’s NST hot streak, marking Rice’s first NST loss since he fell to Dustin Craven at Baldface back in 2022.
It ain’t easy to beat the man who just beat Travis Rice. But Mikey made it happen by doing what Mikey does best.
He went big, and he looked good doing it.
“Nils was on an absolute heater from the day,” he told me. “So I knew it was going to be definitely an all or nothing scenario.”
Mindnich’s performance, at least half of it switch-stance, was a master class in board control and ambidexterity. But it was Mikey’s high speed cab 540 to backside rodeo 720 combo on his last run of the day that gave him the nod by a mere four points over Mindnich.
And while the snowboard community at large wasn’t able to find out the results until yesterday, Mikey was able to share the information with his family when the win was still fresh.
“A little more backstory for you – not to get right into it – but I lost my dad,” said Mikey when I spoke with him yesterday. “It’s been nine years now, and he was the biggest supporter of my career and snowboarding. So when I called – we did a whole group chat with all my family – we were all crying. We know how much it would’ve meant to him too, so it’s very special.”
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The finals were staged in Mosquito Bowl, a backcountry venue in Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing’s terrain. Travis has actually filmed in that same area for the flick That’s It, That’s All, so he already knew the zone was worthy of face-melting movie parts which – all judging nuances aside – is the mark of a good NST venue.
There are countless moments from yesterday’s broadcast that looked like they came from the most worn section of a dusty old VHS tape. Travis may not have won, but he did post the highest score of the day on his first run against Torgeir Bergem: a 93-point top-to-bottom affair that’ll still be relevant 20 years from now. And if Torstein Horgmo opening up the venue in perfect snow doesn’t get you stoked on snowboarding, I don’t know what will.
“That was pure magic,” said Horgmo after the fact.
Jamie Anderson, who wound up in third place, put down a couple soulful lines that can be watched on repeat as well.
Haerty mentioned a few times during the broadcast that she felt like she was filming a movie part.
“I wasn’t thinking about competition,” she said, “I was thinking about what would be beautiful snowboarding.”
Well that strategy worked, and she ended up defeating an in-form (and bleeding after a knee to the nose) Hailey Langland in her first heat before besting fellow North Face teammate Mary Rand in the finals. Rand stormed from the duels all the way to the finals with “business casual” snowboarding, a sneakily aggressive approach that almost saw her walk away with the victory.
“The fun fact is that it was the first time for Mary and myself to ride together in the mountains,” explained Haerty yesterday, stoke still carrying in her voice. She’s no stranger to winning, having displayed Freeride World Tour dominance for years. The win solidified her as one of the most well-rounded competitive snowboarders on the planet. Which is why she calls this NST win, “The cherry on the cake” of her career.
Now she’s just gotta figure out how to drive that Rivian to France.
Men’s Podium:
- Mikey Ciccarelli
- Nils Mindnich
- Travis Rice
Women’s Podium:
- Marion Haerty
- Mary Rand
- Jamie Anderson
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