Veda Hallen and Austin Visintainer Take Honor at Red Bull Heavy Metal in Downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota

32 of the World’s Best Riders Showcase Street Snowboarding on the Steps of the State Capitol Building

SAINT PAUL, MN – (February 1, 2025) For the second year in a row, 32 of the world’s most talented snowboarders descended on The Twin Cities to spotlight the ever-escalating level of street snowboarding in Red Bull Heavy Metal, the boundary-pushing competition that transforms iconic city spaces into snowboarding havens.

The steps of the Minnesota State Capitol Building were the stage for three distinct zones designed to represent different architectural elements that professional snowboarders seek out when filming for video parts—a hallowed pursuit within snowboarding. In addition to overall men’s and women’s champions, winners and runners-up were decided in each zone. Both Visintainer and Hallen took top honors by clenching individual zone wins and riding strong throughout the day.

To kick off the contest, Mayor of Saint Paul Melvin Carter welcomed a packed crowd to the Capitol Building grounds. Snow filled the sky, a fitting nod from Mother Nature, and for the second time ever, snowboarders were given the go-ahead to shred the Capitol of Minnesota, a state with deep roots in the history of street snowboarding.

"I think it’s so special to have Red Bull Heavy Metal back in Saint Paul for the second year in a row,” said contest director and legendary Minnesotan pro rider Joe Sexton. “The rich history of infamous spots and riders that have come out of this area makes this a really a cool full circle moment. Having the city of Saint Paul embrace street snowboarding is so rad and it’s so awesome to see so many people show up to support the riders. I always love having some local riders in the mix, as well!”

Zone One featured a 30-foot gap over a ledge and light pole, necessitating the use of an electric winch to clear the gap on the south side of the Capitol. Zone Two stepped things up via a pair of straight handrails into dual marble ledges, the ideal stage for competitors to showcase technical prowess. The contest’s final arena, Zone Three, featured a 60-foot kinked handrail down the center of the Capitol building’s main stairs, a behemoth version of arguably the most iconic street element in snowboarding.

Hallen, who was the winner of Zone Two in 2024, was a frontrunner from the start. She destroyed Zone One’s creeper ledge with multiple 50-50 180-out variations before sending a giant underflip high overhead, eliciting cheers from the crowd and landing her in first place for the zone. Her momentum continued in Zone Two with a barrage of consistent tricks punctuated by a noseslide pretzel on the rider’s left ledge that secured her second win of the night. Though she valiantly battled Zone Three’s kink rail, it was her dominant performance in Zones One and Two that earned the Lake Tahoe resident the 2025 Heavy Metal crown.

“This is such a special event,” Hallen beamed, trophies in hand. “Having the opportunity to ride the State Capitol is just, honestly, so insane to me. I don’t know how Red Bull pulls it off, but they somehow manage to do it, and bringing all these talented people here to showcase their snowboarding is super special.”

The crew of ladies is just the best. We all push each other so much and it’s just a super confident crew. Everyone’s really happy in their own place and I just love riding with my friends.”

On the men’s side, Spokane, Washington native Austin Visintainer rode with an unstoppable intensity for the full duration of the contest. In Zone One—building on his success as the 2024 Zone One winner—he showcased his deep bag of tricks via a half cab 50-50 on the creeper ledge as well as a lofty rodeo over it. Technical consistency on the rails in Zone Two, from backlips to a 360 swivel, earned him second place for the round and his first trophy of the day. Finally, he landed a buzzer beater backside 180 on switch 50-50 switch back 180 off on the 60-foot down-flat-down that underlined his day-long efforts and secured his 2025 Heavy Metal victory.

Asked about landing the switch 50-50 in Zone Three, Visintainer explained, “It felt absolutely surreal. When I landed it, it just felt like a dream. I was so happy to be riding away. Just like a dream come true, for sure.”

Visintainer has competed in every Heavy Metal since 2022 and witnessed the resounding impact of showcasing street snowboarding. “I think Heavy Metal just exposes the way that we all snowboard in the streets to the general public, which is huge for everyone,” he noted. “To see us just having a good time, I think it exposes the best side of snowboarding.”

Legendary pro and street snowboarding innovator, Darrell Mathes, was a member of the esteemed judging panel alongside 2024 Heavy Metal overall winner Luke Winkelmann and snowboarding pundit Mary Walsh. “The level of rail riders today is exceptional,” said Mathes. “There are no warm-up tricks in competition; all the athletes dive straight into their most challenging tricks, which showcases the continuous improvement in the level of riding. It’s incredibly impressive to witness! Since this is the second year at the Capitol in MN, the riders clearly understand the need to bring new tricks to the table, making it all the more exciting to watch!”

“I think it’s important to have these events,” added Winklemann, “because it continues to help grow the sport and showcase these amazing riders to people who maybe have never seen something like this in the city—or ever. I was so impressed by everyone today. The resilience and adaptability shown by the riders was crazy. The level keeps going up every year!”

Additional standouts included Zone Two winner, Sam Anderson, whose precision rail riding wowed the crowd; Zone Three winner Iris Pham, who executed a boardslide through the length of the kink rail; and Zone One winner, Beck Lobben, a local up-and-comer with a no-holds-barred riding style.

“I think this event is really important for showing what our sport is all about,” added Mathes. “It highlights insane tricks and features for people who may not know much about street snowboarding. By showcasing top riders in a fun and exciting way, we can inspire more people to appreciate the skills involved. This not only helps street snowboarding grow but also encourages younger riders to explore and see what our community is like and how much fun everyone is genuinely having.”

Legendary pro snowboarder and Olympic commentator, Todd Richards, along with pro snowboarder and host of The Bomb Hole podcast, Chris Grenier, emceed the event, stoking the cheers of the crowd with expert analysis and sharp humor. The Bomb Hole’s Julia Spadaro provided reportage from the field.

FULL RESULTS

Overall Winners: Veda Hallen and Austin Visintainer

Zone 1

  • Winners – Veda Hallen and Beck Loben
  • Runners-Up – Iris Pham and Joey Fava

Zone 2

  • Winners – Veda Hallen and Sam Anderson
  • Runners-Up – Jess Perlmutter and Austin Visintainer

Zone 3

  • Winners – Iris Pham and Austin Visintainer
  • Runners-Up – Jess Perlmutter and Quin Elul

For those who couldn’t be in attendance, the event will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday, February 16 at 9:30PM Central. Red Bull will also release video content to recap and support the event on the Red Bull Snow YouTube channel.

And with the Saint Paul event concluded, Red Bull Heavy Metal will now gear up for its historic debut in Boston at City Hall Plaza on February 22. Leading the charge there will be X Games Gold Medalist Zeb Powell, who aims to bring the same level of urban snowboarding excitement to a brand-new crowd in the Northeast.

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