An awesome Slopestyle Snowboard final in one of the biggest Snowparks in Europe on Mount Corvatsch, Silvaplana Switzerland. The perfectly shaped Slopestyle gave all the 30 finalist a challenge but they all presented top level riding.

The final of the 4Star TTR event at the Engadinsnow was won by Nuutti Niemelä from Finland with a run of : On the first jump, the biggest kicker of the Slopestyle, with a gap of 18 meters Nuutti showed a backside 1080° Indy Grab. On the second obstacle a Frontside 540° Indy Nosebone and on the third kicker he showed a Frontside 1080° Mute Grab. On the last obstacle before the finish, a spine, he showed a Backside 360° Stalefish Grab. With a score of 96.8 points he won the competition well-deserved and with a big lead of 12.6 points ahead of runner-up Matthias Vogt from Germany, who also showed a spectacular run: starting with a Switch Frontside 900° Indy Grab on the first kicker, followed by a Backside 720° Backside Grab and a Frontside 900° Nute Grab on the following obstacles. Matthias finished his run with a high and stylish backside air.

The third place was taken by the upcoming Swiss youngster David Hablützel from Zurich. He started his run with a Switch Backside 900° Mute Grab. On the next two impressive kickers he stood out with a Backside 720° Indy Grab, a Frontside 360° Stalefish Grab and on the spine he showed a Frontside Rodeo 540° Backside Grab. The winner of the ladies was Abby Lockhart from New Zealand who managed to collect important points at the 4 star TTR event for the World Tour ranking. She showed the jury a good run and won ahead of the best swiss rider Tina Ramholt on second place.

Check out the pictures below of the winners. Congratulations to all from TTR!

Check out the TTR event page or visit the Engadinsnow web-site.

The second stop of The Nike Chosen Series saw riders traveling from all corners of the country to Funasdalen, Sweden.

Even though it was the first time many of the riders went over a kicker this winter due to the lack of snow in the early season, you wouldn’t have guessed it. All riders treated the crowd to a demonstration of style and tech in the finals in Sweden.

The lollipop got a working with Joel Anderson sticking a BS 360 Nosebonk and Simon Ahlvu showing his experience by pulling a crazy BS Rodeo Handplant.
Over on the kicker Philip Landmark stamped his technical prowess with a series of spins including a front 10, Karl-Anton Svensson bent his way around a super rare FS 720 Double Tailgrab and Joel Anderson stalled out a floaty back 5 no-grab before stomping a Double Backside Rodeo late in the jam.
The winner of the MVP was judged to be Anderson who threw it down all day with confidence and will be given an invite the Nike Chosen Sessions in April to session with the Nike Pros on a purpose built park, and the chance to be the overall “Chosen Rider”.

The third stop was in Kronplatz, Italy where a foot of fresh snow fell over night, the expert F-Tech shaper crew pulled out the stops to make Kronplatz, Italy, proud with an immaculate kicker for the 3^rd stop of the Nike Chosen Series.

From the off, local brothers Daniel (Back 7 Melon to shifty) and Oliver Reichegger (Front Rodeo 5 Stiffy) took the event by the reins, laying down a huge variety of spins and double grabs which saw them sail into the finals. Joining them in the 10-man cut was Alex Reiner (Front 7 double tail) and David Mahlknecht (Front 10 Melon).

The finals saw the biggest variation of double grabs so far on the 9-stop tour. Daniel Reichegger was consistent throughout using the kicker and the bonk feature in equal measure giving the judges a stoke with a floated miller flip, classic stylish Cab 5s, a maverick back 5 double nose grab and a backside 9 nose grab – the award for MVP (most valuable player) was never in doubt.

Daniel wins a ticket to Nike Chosen Sessions to ride with the Nike Pro team on a purpose built park where he will compete to become the overall Nike Chosen Series Winner.

Check out this video from the third stop in Kronplatz, Italy

Don’t forget 3 Competing riders from each stop also has the opportunity to gain a wildcard entry into the finals. Who do you think it should be? Ensure to keep watching the tricks as you can vote for which rider you think should go to the Nike Chosen Sessions Final at www.nikechosenseries.com

Stay tuned for updates on the latest stop on The Nike Chosen Series!

The qualification period for the 6 Star TTR WSC direct qualification spots have ended! The riders ranked in the top 50 men or women on the Halfpipe or Slopestyle Points List as of January 23rd, 2012 are directly qualified for the event. The top ranked riders will be seeded into the qualifications or semi-final round of the event and all qualified riders will have to re-confirm their spots within the next 7 days.

Check out the lists below to see who qualified!
Make sure you go to the TTR event page for more info and check TTR News for updates.

Everyone agreed that Tina Ramholt made a perfect run: Underflip 540° on the first jump, 270° in on the Flat-Down boxe, Frontboard on the Rainbow-boxe and 50-50 on the Down-boxe, earning the Swiss girl 900 francs. Taking second place was Anaïs Cettou with a Switch Back 360° on the first jump, 270° in on the Flat-Down boxe, 50-50 Frontboard on the Rainbow-boxe and 270° in on the Down-boxe, receiving an award of 400 francs. Justine Gremaud did a 180° Back on the first jump, Gap Boardslide on the Flat-Down boxe, 270° in on the Up-Flat-Down boxe and 360° on the boxe, completing the podium and receiving 200 francs.

Congratulations to all the winners from TTR!

Check out the video below of the Ladies First Challenge: Thyon

Next stop is in Wildhaus (SG) on the 18th February 2012 so make sure you register at:
www.ladiesfirstchallenge.ch/rider/register.php

Stay tuned for more info on The Ladies First Challenge.

Day 2 of the Protest World Rookie Fest 2012 was on fire with tonnes of action at the Mottolino Swatch Snowpark and in the new Cable Park in Livingno downtown. 126 riders from the starting list all shred the slopestyle set up including 3 table top and ending in a multi rail obstacles in practice. The afternoon saw the Protest Cable session happen in the centre of Livigno awarding a €1,000 prize money to grab in a “cash for trick” contest.

The Protest World Rookie Fest is not just about competing. The program of day 2 included a workshop, “Wanna be a Snowboarder Pro” by Bob Klein from USA. Bob was one of the very first pro ever and today he is in the “snowboarding hall of fame” and works as a professional athlete manager in Octagon, world leading company in this market!

Yeti on the loose! Last seen shredding!

Have you seen seen this Yeti?! Anyone know who it is?
Rumour has it that Red Bull pro Jamie Nicholls has joined the Protest World Rookie Fest to shred with the riders, but in a different style.

Day 3 of the Protest World Rookie Fest 2012 saw a high level of riding at the qualifications, only the best 16 male rookies and the 8 male groms get a spot for today’s super finals while all the girls, both rookies and groms get direct access to the finals.

Swedish rising star Sven Thorgen resulted the best in the rookie category while norwegian ripper Mons Roislan dominated among the groms. As rumoured there was a very special Yeti on the slopestyle: Red Bull pro, Jamie Nicholls had the honor to be the world famous World Rookie Tour Mascotte all day long!

In the afternoon a Yoga Lesson was arranged for the participants: almost 30 riders, coach and parents enjoyed this new activity of the Protest World Rookie Fest program.

Click here to see the qualification results for the finals.

Check out the video below of Training at the Mottolino Swatch Snowpark, Day 2!

Follow the Yeti @ www.worldrookietour.com and www.worldsnowboardfederation.org
For more info on the final event check out the TTR event page.

The Mottolino Swatch Snowpark looked awesome thanks to the crew of shapers who spent the night and day to create the perfect set up for the crowd of rookies arriving in Livigno. The 8th edition of Protest World Rookie Fest has started with the qualification day at the Snowpark and the cable-snow contest  with a prize money of €1000 cash in the afternoon.

The opening ceremony kicked off the World Rookie Fest 2012 in style thanks to the video première of the  Red Bull movie “The Art of Flight” and “Rookie Trip to Chile”, a movie filmed in Chile with the best riders of the World Rookie Tour 2011 together with some South America Red Bull riders. The “Rookie Trip to Chile” will be available for download soon on the official rookie website so don’t forget to check it out at www.worldrookietour.com.

Get more info of the final  4Star event at the TTR event page or visit www.worldsnowboardfederation.org

Watch this video of the 1st day: World Rookie Fest 2012

If you dream to become a professional snowboarder, your future starts here at the Rookie Fest!

The Red Bull Nanshan Open saw awesome weather on the first days of training and qualifications with the Nike park looking as good as it can be. The Mellow Parks crew has been busy shaping the features to perfection for this years TTR 5Star event which marks the 10th anniversary of the Nanshan Open. As the largest slopestyle event in Asia we will see some sick riding from both international and chinese riders.

See the riders list below and check out the pictures from the first days!

1 – Atsushi Ishikawa (JPN / 日本) Flow/Quiksilver/Spy
2 – Anton Bilare (SWE / 瑞典) Nitro/Rip Curl
3 – Austin Smith (USA / 美国) Nike/Nitro
4 – Nick Brown (NZ / 新西兰) RPM/Burton/Dragon
5 – Nils Arvidsson (SWE / 瑞典) Nitro/Rip Curl
6 – Kazushige Fujita (JPN / 日本) Head/Union/Electric
7 – Knut Eliassen (NOR / 挪威) Nitro/Smith
8 – Nick Hyne (NZ / 新西兰) Ride/Smith/Lower
9 – Aljosa Krivec (SLO / 斯洛文尼亚) Apo/Horsfeathers/Deeluxe
10 – Sergey Lapushkin (RUS / 俄罗斯) DC/Vivax
11 – Lee Yongho (KOR / 韩国) Nike/Salomon/Electric
12 – Brian Fox (USA / 美国) Nitro/Quiksilver
13 – Teddy Koo (KOR / 韩国) Nike/Salomon/Electric
14 – Sam Hulbert (USA / 美国) Ride/Smith/Neff
15 – Juuso Laivisto (FIN / 芬兰) Red Bull/Volcom/Ride
16 – Joachim Krogstie (NOR / 挪威) Burton/Analog/Anon
17 – Maxence Parrot (CAN / 加拿大) Oneill/Ride/Oakley
18 – Matthias Weissenbacher (AUT / 奥地利) Quiksilver/Gnu
19 – Petja Piiroinen (FIN / 芬兰) Flow/Billabong
20 – Antoine Truchon (CAN / 加拿大) Nitro/Oneill/Smith
21 – Kevin Backstrom (SWE / 瑞典) Nike/Rome
22 – Roope Tonteri (FIN / 芬兰) Burton/Anon
23 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)
24 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)
25 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)
26 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)
27 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)
28 – Locally Qualified Chinese Rider (Results on 7th of Jan)

Don’t miss the live webcast at www.sports.sina.com.cn/z/2011nssb/ and check out the TTR event page!

Check the full rundown of the event below:

Live Tv coverage:
Saturday, January 14th, 2012
11:00-12:00 CST (1st run of Qualifier)
13:30-15:30 CST (2nd and 3rd runs of Qualifier)
Sunday, January 15th, 2012
11:00-12:30 CST (Finals)
13:30-14:30 CST (SuperFinals)

Jan 14, Sat – Competition Day 1
Open to 22 invited international pro riders and 7 locally qualified riders. Each rider will have three runs; the best 1 out of 3 counts, and the top 12 will progress onto Sunday’s competition.

09:30 – 11:00 Training
11:00 – 12:00 1st run
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch break and park maintenance
13:00 – 13:30 Warm up
13:30 – 15:00 2nd and 3rd runs
15:30 – 15:45 Announcement of 12 finalists

Jan 15, Sun – Competition Day 2
Limited to the 12 qualified riders of the previous day’s event. Each rider will have two runs, the best 1 out of 2 counts. The top 4 will progress into the afternoon’s super finals for three runs each, best 1 out of 3 counts.

09:30 – 11:00 Training
11:00 – 12:30 Finals (top 12 riders, 2 runs each, best run counts)
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch break and park maintenance
13:30 – 14:30 Super Finals (top 4 riders, 3 runs, best run counts)
14:30 – 14:45 [live music performance]
14:45 Prize Giving

Prize draw:
1st = US$ 20.000 / 850 TTR points
2nd = US$ 10.000 / 800.95 TTR points
3rd = US$ 5.000 / 765 TTR points
4th = US$ 3.000 / 737.85 TTR points
5th-12th = US$ 1.500 / TTR points

Speaker: Eric Zhu
Head judges: Iztok Sumatic (SLO), Ishi (JPN)
Judges: Ingemar Backman (SWE), Michi Albin (SWI), Scotty Wittlake (USA), Alan Wong (PRC)

Check out this Wrap Up video from the 9th Red Bull Nanshan Open and make sure you visit TTR’s event page for more information.

The best competitors of Europe will meet on the modules of the Central Park (snow park in Thyon) trying to get the 1500 francs at stake in snowboarding and 500 francs in skiing in the first Qualifying round!

Good luck to everyone from TTR!

For more information hit up www.ladiesfirstchallenge.ch also check out the TTR event page.

Watch The Ladies First Challenge 2012 Teaser!