00:00Guaranteed to be on the podium, so an extremely solid return to form.
00:04We go back up to the top for an exciting rider here, Mia Jones, 20 years old, riding out of Palisades.
00:11She's a rookie on the Tour and taking a win in her very first World Tour start.
00:16She said she is feeling free and ready to put a...
00:19Oh, but just clipping rock right out of the gate.
00:23Right out of the gate.
00:24That's so hard to go from a dead stop straight into an air on your first turn out.
00:30But Mia recovering fast and proving that she can stomp.
00:36You know, she is one to watch this whole season coming out with first place in the Spain and showing why.
00:43Look at that edge-to-edge board control.
00:45Yeah, and with only Noemi and Anna putting down clean runs, already that top section from Mia looking really strong.
00:52I mean, that was the boldest start we saw from any of the snowboard women just popping out of the gate and immediately into the air.
00:58And the rest of that's solid, so there is something to be salvaged here.
01:02Oh, absolutely.
01:03Her run is far from over, and Mia proving why she got first place last year.
01:08You know, you can get so much confidence out of a rookie rider.
01:10It's really cool to see.
01:12Yeah, love watching the way Mia navigates.
01:15It's almost the steeper it gets, the more comfortable she gets.
01:17You know, she chases her brother around at home, and obviously her dad is a legend in the freeride snowboard community.
01:24So the whole family, they ride together, they push each other, and the skills that Mia has put together in her young career are absolutely world-class.
01:34So she's going to be looking to back things up here on this lower section as she pops off the traverse,
01:38and following some of those tracks from some of the other riders, gets ready to take on the lower section of this space.
01:44Exactly. Mia coming in with purpose and speed.
01:48Again, no hesitation into that lower section, showing that she's got great control and knows where she's going.
01:55One, two perfect stomped landings and into the snow as she enters into the same chute that we saw in Noemi just a few moments ago.
02:04Yeah, so Noemi choosing the straight line option.
02:07Mia getting down through the rocks with what is becoming her trademark board control and flying out on that heel side edge.
02:15So a bit of a story of what might have been there for Mia Jones, but the rest after the top was stellar.
02:21Really stellar.
02:22And, you know, Derek, it's hard to recover from crashing, and I think Mia showed the strength of her mental game to be able to bounce back so fast and stay with it.
02:32So crossing through the finish arch to the cheers of locals and international visitors alike as Mia Jones wraps up what is only her second Freeride World Tour event.
02:46That's kind of unbelievable, Derek, based on that riding.
02:50Well, this is good.
02:52All right, we're going to take a look at the replay here, Hadley, as she comes straight out of the gate.
02:59Looks like she was just a little bit back closer to her backside edge and just backslap straight off the back.
03:06I bet she wasn't able to get fully centered riding out of the start gate.
03:10But then I love this as a recovery, getting the Indy grab right between the feet off another huge cliff.
03:16Video Judge loving the line there.
03:19Control clearly down as she did have a crash right away, but the rest of the run is so solid.
03:24And that Erin Style bar maxed out as, you know, one of the only riders we've seen grabbing the board so far in the category.
03:30Yeah, Erin Style and really look at that technique as she exits out of that couloir.
03:37Such strong riding.
03:38I think we have a lot to see from this young rider the whole season long.
03:48Well, Mia, not so chatty in the finish area, but now she's doing it.
03:53The Jets score is coming in 64-67.
03:55So she moves into third.
03:58Potential for a podium.
04:00Oh, yeah.
04:00And I think...
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