Photo: Jake Burton
LAAX, Switzerland (Jan. 15, 2009) – Danny Davis (USA) and Lisa Wiik (NOR) claimed the first Burton European Open titles of their careers in a highly competitive slopestyle finals at the BEO’s 10th birthday celebration. Each will take home $15,000 USD, 8,000 BGOS points and 1,000 TTR points, as well as being in a strong position to claim one of two Volvo XC 60s that will be awarded tomorrow to the best overall female and male BEO riders. Current BGOS Champion Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) and Laax local Sina Candrian (SUI) took second and Shaun White (USA) and Kjersti Buaas(NOR) took third place.
Danny was so excited about his win and had this to say, “This was my first podium at the BEO and I’m so happy to have won,“ said Danny Davis. “Now I feel like the pressure is off and I can just enjoy the halfpipe tomorrow and have a good run.” Lisa Wiik was also thrilled with the results and said, “This was my best contest result ever. I haven’t been on the podium for so long because of injuries, so I am very glad I won today.“
In one of the most cut-throat slopestyle competitions of the season, both the men’s and women’s podiums were not decided until the final runs. With most of the world’s best slopestyle riders competing, it was clear during the semi-finals this morning that only riders who nailed highly technical tricks on all of the course features earned top scores. The course was in perfect shape, starting out with several creative features, including a mini-spine log jib, followed by a wallride and the choice of a down rail or down box then a halfpipe feature followed by three kickers.
In the slopestyle finals, eight women and 16 men had three runs to earn a spot on the podium. The competition alternated between the women’s field taking one run followed by the men taking one run. The competition was extremely tight in the women’s finals with Laax local Sina Candrian (SUI), Kjersti Buaas (NOR) and Lisa Wiik (NOR) all stomping runs that put them in first place at one point during the finals. Sina Candrian threw down an epic second run, stomping the only frontside 900 of the competition. But she could only hold the top spot for a few minutes because Lisa Wiik (NOR) took the lead and held on to it with her second run that included a frontside 180 nose tap on the log jib, a frontside 360 on the wallride, a 50/50 nosepress on the down box a frontside air and a backside inverted 540 on the halfpipe hits and a backside 540 mute, frontside 360 and a backside 360 indy on the jumps. In the end, Lisa won the first major title of her career by less than two-tenths of a point, with Sina right behind her in second and Kjersti Buaas rounding out the podium with a third-place finish.
The men’s slopestyle finals turned into a real nail-biter during the third runs. After run two, 2008 BEO Slopestyle Champion Shaun White had a comfortable eight-point lead, and until Danny Davis dropped in for his third run, it looked like Shaun had first place in the bag. But then came Danny, who was on fire after a fall in his second run and pulled out all the stops, starting with a backside corked 360 handplant on the log jib, an alleyoop rock-n-roll slide on the wallride, a switch backside lipslide on the rail, then a huge switch backside inverted 720 nosegrab and backside 720 mute grab on the pipe hits followed by a switch backside 900 mute, a frontside 1080, a 180 on the roller, ending the jump line with a Cab 900 crail. Shaun still had one more run to top Danny’s score, and he started off strong at the top but unfortunately fell on the second kicker. The last run of the day belonged to current BGOS Champion Peetu Piiroinen (FIN), who has been riding at the BEO since he won the Junior Slopestyle title in 2005. Peetu shook up the podium standings one more time with the final run of the competition, claiming second place. In the end, less than one point separated first and third podium finishes in the men’s slopestyle finals, with Burton riders sweeping the men’s slopestyle podium. After the competition, Shaun White said, “The level of riding was insane here and I was super impressed by the young riders. I really liked the slopestyle course and I thought I had a great run.“
Competitors in today’s slopestyle finals also earned valuable points towards both the $100,000 Burton Global Opens Series title and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Tour championship title. Both the BGOS and TTR standings saw some changes today with Chas Guldemond (USA) taking over the top spot in the BGOS men’s standings and holding on to his No.1 spot in the Swatch TTR World ranking. Jamie Anderson (USA) held on to her BGOS standings lead and her Swatch TTR World No. 1 ranking, despite being unable to compete today.
Today’s slopestyle results add up to a very exciting day in tomorrow’s BEO halfpipe finals where Danny, Peetu, Shaun, Lisa and Kjersti will meet again for a re-match along with 2008 BEO Halfpipe Champions Kelly Clark (USA) and Kevin Pearce (USA).
If you can’t make it to the BEO halfpipe finals up on Crap Sogn Gion at Laax, be sure to catch the action LIVE on Go211.com at the following times.
BEO Halfpipe Finals: Friday, January 16
Morning Show 11:15 – 11:45 (CET)
Halfpipe Finals 1 11:45 – 12:45 (CET)
Halfpipe Finals 2 13:00 – 14:30 (CET)
End Show 14:30 – 15:00 (CET)
Replay of entire webcast 17:00 (CET)
Women’s Slopestyle Finals Results
1 Wiik, Lisa (NOR) ROXY 75.83
2 Candrian, Sina (SUI) BURTON 75.67
3 Oestgaard Buaas, Kjersti (NOR) 72.67
Men’s Slopestyle Finals Results
1 Davis, Danny (USA) BURTON 91.17
2 Piiroinen, Peetu FIN BURTON 90.83
3 White, Shaun USA BURTON 90.33
For more information on the Burton European Open, head to
opensnowboarding.com.
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