NZsnowboard.com

4th September 2008

 PERISHER BLUE, AUSTRALIA Heavy snow resulting in poor visibility tested competitors today during mens and womens slopestyle qualifications at Perisher Blue Resort. Riders from all over the world took on the inclement weather during day three of the Burton Australian Open to earn a place in Fridays slopestyle finals, alongside some of the worlds best snowboarders including Mikkel Bang, Chas Guldemond, Torstein Horgmo, Mason Aguirre, Kimmy Fasani and Jamie Anderson.

Chris Decampo sends it at the Burton Australian Open

The slopestyle course challenged riders with a variety of features including a down rail, battleship rail, three kickers and a wall ride. Top mens qualifier, Eric Willett (USA) landed a solid run that started off a front lipslide 270 out on the down rail, followed by a 50/50 gap to front 180, 50/50 out on the battleship, into a switch backside 540 mute, followed by backside 720 melon, finishing with a frontside 900 tailgrab.
 
"Practice was nice yesterday, but the new snow today made the course really slow. It was definitely a challenge, but it was super fun, the course is really nice and the jumps were well built" said Eric Willett. "Speed was kind of an issue but hopefully it wont be too bad for Fridays finals."

Finland's Jaako Ruha getting ready to drop in at the top of the course

Joining Willett in Fridays slopestyle finals are Jaako Ruha (FIN), Halldor Helgason (ICE), Andreas Monsberger (AUT) and Markus Malin (FIN), in addition to fellow American, Sage Kotsenburg, who placed first in yesterdays halfpipe qualifications.
 
1 Eric Willett                 USA      VANS                 69.33
2 Jaakko Ruha               FIN      KISSMARK          66.00
3 Halldor Helgason         ICE       DC                    64.83
4 Markus Malin              FIN      BONFIRE             64.00
5 Sage Kotsenburg        USA      QUIKSILVER         62.83
6 Andreas Monsberger   AUT       K2                     61.83
 
Although the snow continued to fall, the ladies braved the elements and took to the course. Kara Rennie out of Canada earned the top spot for the women in slopestyle quals this afternoon with a run that started off with a 50/50 to backside lipslide on the down rail, followed by a huge straight air on the first kicker, followed by a tailgrab, finishing with another straight air. Laurie Currier and Ashley Wendorf, both out of the US will be competing in Fridays finals against back-to-back slopestyle X-Games gold medalist and New Zealand Open slopestyle winner, Jamie Anderson.
 
1 Kara Rennie                 CAN       NIKITA          50.67
2 Laurie Currier               USA       OAKLEY         46.67
3 Ashley Wendorf            USA       ---                45.83
 
The Burton Australian Open continues tomorrow with the mens and womens halfpipe semis and finals. For more information visit www.opensnowboarding.com. If you cant make it to Australia, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.
 
Burton would like to thank Go211.com, Corona, APN, Perisher Blue and Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour for their support of the Australian Open.




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


 
 
About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com
 
About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH Ticket To Ride (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 and 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. 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 eight results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion. For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com
 
About Go211.com
Go211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. Its the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans.  Go211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes.  The current Go211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.