NZSnowboard.com - The home of New Zealand Snowboarding

1st March 2009

 Alts Bandai The 5Star Nissan X-Trail Asian Open in Alts Bandai, Japan, saw riders going head to head today in one of the last remaining Slopestyle contests of the season.  

Under blue skies, Chas Guldemond (USA) and Chanelle Sladics (USA) took out the respective titles, each earning 850 Swatch TTR ranking points and $15 000 USD.  Guldemonds win helps him maintain his World No.2 position with Charles Reid (CAN) coming second, and moving into World No.6. Jamie Anderson came in second also extending her Tour lead. 

Chanelle Sladics rode solidly all day and snatched victory in her final run, stomping a massive Cab 5 Mute to FS 5 Indy.  In doing so she earned her first ever Swatch TTR victory and moved into World No.24.  "I made the first place. That feels amazing. I will definitely be working my way up on the TTR and I think that will help, she said.
 
Second place getter, Jamie Anderson (USA) demonstrated why she is last seasons Swatch TTR World Tour Champion and current World No.1. Despite just coming out of a six week recovery period for a broken pelvis she was still ruling the course with smooth 5s and Tailslides.  In third place was Silvia Mittermuller (GER), who moved up to World No. 7 with a banger run that included a corked switch BS 5 and monster FS 7 closely followed by Spencer OBrien (USA) who had just missed the podium today with a 4th place but moves up the ranking into World No. 8. Jordie Karlinski, who had not made the finals on Thursday, is one of the only girls in the Top 10 with 7 results on her account. Her points from the Parkstyle competition pushes her into World No. 2. (USA).  Silvia Mittermueller (GER) now sits in World No.7, just in front of Spencer OBrien (CAN) in World No.8 both of them able to break into the TTR Top 5 at the end of the season.
 
In the mens competition, Chas Guldemond asserted his Slopestyle prowess. Following him in second place was Charles Reid, who stomped his trademark Doublecork 1080 in the last run, moving up to World No.6.  I am gonna try to keep it until US Open. I will work hard for the Top 5 spot, he said.  The podium was rounded out by Fredrik Evensen (NOR) who advanced 84 places up the Swatch TTR ranking to World No.64.  Mason Aguirre, who finished todays finals in 12th, makes the jump in the TTR Top 10 bringing him closer to realizing his ambitious goal, the TTR Top 5.

Despite not riding in this event, Piiroinen (FIN) maintains his Swatch TTR World No.1 spot with Guldemond still following close behind in World No.2.  Mason Aguirre (USA) has now moved up into World No.9 and will be looking to maintain this momentum in tomorrows Halfpipe contest.  Tim Humphreys (USA) who, after today, sits in World No.15, is poised to crack into the TTR Top 10. 

The Halfpipe finals tomorrow at Alts Bandai are pivotal to the TTR Title races as this is one of the athletes last chances to move up before the Tour defining 6Star events at the Burton U.S. Open and Roxy Chicken Jam.  $200 000 USD, reputations and glory are all at stake and this will be pushing all riders to do everything in their power to crack the TTR Top 5. 

Log on to www.go211.com for live coverage of tomorrows event.  Also dont forget to check out www.ttrworldtour.com for fresh videos, news, rankings, all coming to you as it happens in land of the rising sun.







LINKS:
www.go211.com
www.ttrworldtour.com







ABOUT SWATCH TTR:
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the  mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been  developing into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations.

Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star  event holds the highest (1000 Swatch TTR points). Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the SWATCH TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider based on an average of their best seven results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.