its probably not the person who stole them that owns them. ussually when people steal skis or snowboards they sell them off to other people, or sometimes even used ski joints.
ever hear of Shinji Osada? hes a pro skier from japan that also skiboards and came out to the contest, he was amazing got a lot of spots on the podium.
the talent pool is definatly growing and has been for the past few years. most of the top skiboards do both skiing and skiboarding, its kind of a ying and yang thing, skiboarding teaches you to be precise while skiing teaches you to go big.
the talent isnt as high because its a much smaller sport. skiers get paid to ski everyday, the small handful of pro skiboards get one or two free trips a year, not a lot of time to practice as much.
fakie DH was fucking hilarious and sick, im sure you've raced buddies down the hill fakie at some point, we turned it into an event, loads of fun.
chinese DH was just stupid.