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Thursday, 04 March 2010 18:26 |
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On the 5th to the 7th of March 2010 it is time for the 4Star Nescafé Champs Leysin, an event that has been rocking our snowboard boots since 1992.
This winter the event has gone back to its roots in Leysin, Switzerland. It is an event that oozes a laid back ambience, while pushing the progression of snowboarding. This year it features a perfectly shaped superpipe, a maximum of 500 Swatch TTR ranking points and of course the $20 000USD prize-money.
Stepping up the level of European halfpipe riding
Nescafé Champs Leysin will present an opportunity for the local riders to qualify and measure their talents against some world class invited riders such as the Swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov, currently sitting in no. 2 on the Swatch TTR World Ranking List. He has been killing it in the halfpipe for a while now. This season he already took home halfpipe titles at the 6Star O’Neill Evolution and the 5Star Burton Canadian Open, as well as a 3rd place at the 6Star Burton European Open halfpipe. More recently he has been in the media highlight due to his 4th place at the winter Olympics 2001. Iouri has got what it takes to bag another title, including a sweet Cab Double Cork 1080 and plenty of style, so the riders will have to step it up to defeat him.
Rookies on the rampage
Competing in Leysin will also be some talented and eager rookies, ready to improve on their current Swatch TTR World Ranking position. One youngster to watch out for is the 15-year old Patrick Burgener (SUI) who has showed solid halfpipe skills by taking an 8th place at the 5Star Burton Canadian Open halfpipe 2010 and by winning both halfpipe and slopestyle formats at the 3Star Burton European Junior Open in 2009. Currently ranked TTR World No 57 Burgener could move into the top 40. Current TTR Tour Leader Peetu Piiroinen’s younger brother Petja Piiroinen (FIN) is another rookie set to attend at the Nescafé Champs. At 18-years old, he has already in his career nailed some nice results such as 5th place at the Völkl World Rookie Fest 2009, a 2nd at the Finnish Open slopestyle 2009 and a 6th place at the 5Star Nissan X-Trail Asian Open slopestyle in 2009. http://www.girlracer.co.uk
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