The Natural Selection finals will go down March 15, 2025 from Revelstoke. The contest will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern Time. That can be watched on Red Bull TV here.
Advancing riders are now slotted into the classic head-to-head format. The prizes on the line? A piece of the $130,000 prize purse, two 2026 Ski-Doo Summit X snowmobiles, and the right to be called the champion.
Photo: Chad Chomlack/Natural Selection Tour
Reigning champion Mikey Ciccarelli was atop the leaderboard after day one Friday, with a top score of 90. Torgeir Bergrem was close behind with an 85.6.
“I approach Natural Selection with the mindset of getting a clip, and focus on style, grabs, tweaking out tricks. My strategy is to make it look nice," Ciccarelli said after. "The snow today was epic, 10 out of 10, bottomless. That's why I f*cking love snowboarding—that flow state you get into. It's insane!”
For the women, NST rookie Madison Blackley took the top spot with a score of 67.3. Her run featured several straight airs, as she soared off the eagle's nest to end her run.
“It’s crazy what pressure does to you," she said. "I was not expecting to drop first and I was not expecting to score in first. It’s a dream.”
Fellow rookie Šárka Pančochová has also advanced, thanks to a run that featured a backside 360 crosscourt air and a score of 61.6. Last chance qualifier Spencer O'Brien threw a huge backside 360 to overtake Mary Rand and advance to the final.
Nils Mindich threw the first 900 in contest history, along with a Cab 540 and a backside 360. Dustin Craven, sporting a hockey helmet wrapped with the Run Through A Wall smelling salts logo, attacked the pillow live head on, sending a massive foot drop immediately after throwing back-to-back 360s at the top of the run.
“I'm so psyched. I didn't know if I was going to do a seven or a nine," Mindich said after. "I was like, ‘I'll make the call on the way in.’”
Here's who will be riding in the finals:
- Madison Blackley
- Spencer O'Brien
- Sarka Pancochova
- Elena Hight
- Mikey Ciccarelli
- Blake Moller
- Nils Mindich
- Gigi Ruf
- Torgeir Bergrem
- Jared Elston
- Dustin Craven
- Stale Sandbech.
“I'm relieved and happy that I made it through,” Sandbech, an NST rookie, said. “I would pay a lot of money to come and ride this untracked. It’s so good.”
BOA handed out $5,000 to the riders with the most standout performance from the first day of the contest. Hight and Ciccarelli took that prize money.