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Who's who of snowboarding
One of the longest running major boarding events sees its tenth
year, at Seefeld, this month. The air+style contest, first staged
in Innsbruck in 1994, has a past winners list which reads like a
who’s who in snowboarding. Reto Lamm, Ingemar Backman, Terje Haakonsen,
Fabien Rohrer, Jim Rippey, Stefan Gimpl and David Benedek are all
registered in the air+style Hall of Fame.
Sponsored by Nokia, this year’s event is staged on December 12th
and 13th , for the fourth time at the Casino Arena in Seefeld. Last
year’s field of 16 riders has been extended to 30 this year. This
will let more young snowboarders show what they can do.
Technical jump and style jump comps
Like last year, all riders must prove themselves in two jump categories:
technical jump (no restrictions) and style jump (rotations up to
540°). The best trick session remains the same. After a knock out
contest the five top riders will advance to the Superfinals on Saturday,
which will take place at 8:40 p.m. to determine the ultimate winner.
The top eight from the previous year will automatically qualify
for the event, amongst them the first German air+style-winner David
Benedek, Marc André Tarte (Can) - in 2002 he was able to do the
first 1260° jump in a contest and Shaun White (USA) the 17-year-old
shooting star and teenage idol from California. As the eighth, Stefan
Gimpl, three times air & style winner from Salzburg, was just able
to qualify.
Wallride and volcano features
The innovative PARK set-up will again be designed and built by the
shaper duo Wolfi Schröter and Klaus “Captain Kaos” Marko. The wallride
(after the main jump) was made more spectacular and safer. The middle
behind the wall creates the volcano with a circle rail on its crater.
There are six more rails in the flat area.
The volcano will also serve as a landing hill for the Red Bull snowfighters,
when they perform their spectacular Freestyle Motocross (FMX) show.
For the first time on European snow, Nate Adams will do a backflip
on his motor bike.
Three day party
For the first time the Festival part of the event will be held for
longer than two days. Friday will come, with a full programme on
the stage and ramp, leading into Saturday. There will be three top
acts on each of the evenings. “Die Happy”, “Beginner” and the US
rapper “Gangstarr” are already definite on Friday. “Wir sind Helden”,
“Donots” and “Lagwagon” perform on Saturday..
Eurosport and Al Jazeera Sport will be amongst the stations broadcasting
live from the event, ultimately providing coverage in 120 countries.
Check out the official website.
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