Another bluebird day, spring temperatures and an epic Slopestyle course laid the groundwork for one of the Burton European Open’s most memorable slopestyle competitions earlier today. Jamie Anderson (USA) successfully defended her title and won the BEO Slopestyle for the second year in a row, while Aleksander Ostreng (NOR) won his first international title today. Both winners took home $15,000 and a world-class title to add to their snowboarding resumes.
Eight women competed in the finals, pushing things to a super high level of riding that is rarely seen in women’s slopestyle finals. Each rider had three runs to earn her best score, and Jamie Anderson took the lead with her first run. Jamie then proceeded to top her own score with each subsequent run, with a final winning score of 93.58. Jamie’s winning run included a backside tailslide on the rail, a frontside 360 to backside 180 on the step-up/step-down combo, a Cab 720 nose grab and switch backside 540 Indy grab on the kickers, finishing off with a backside lipslide to frontside 360 melon. Enni Rukajärvi (FIN) managed to get close to Jamie with a top score of 81.80, ending up in second place followed by a new face on the BEO podium, Swiss rider Isabel Derungs, who took third.
Women's Podium (L-R): Enni Rukajärvi, Jamie Anderson, Isabel Derungs
Jamie had this to say about her win, “It was the best riding I have ever seen from the girls. I love the new course…it’s great for creative runs. I’m so happy that I won because my mom stayed up all night to watch the finals.”
The men’s final was a heavy one with things heating up in the third and last run, where riders proved to possess nerves of steel. For a while, it looked like the podium would be completely in Finnish hands. In the end, it was Norway’s Aleksander Ostreng who claimed the top spot with an incredible third run, including a switch frontside 180 on to 360 out on the rail, a super stylish backside rodeo to Cab rodeo 540 on the step-up/step-down combo, followed by a frontside 1080 nosebone and a huge and super clean backside 1260 melon grab, ending with a Cab 180 on to 270 out to tailblunt 270 out on the MINI Creative Use of Space feature.
Alek was overwhelmed and said, “I haven’t realized that I won yet. It’s a super good feeling being on the podium for the first time in a 6 Star TTR event. I landed everything in the second run, so I tried to step it up in the third, and itworked out!” The Finnish squad followed with last year’s BEO winner Roope Tonteri taking second place and Peetu Piiroinen taking third place. Peetu had a theory why the podium was in Northern Europe’s hands, “I like the dominance of the Scandinavian and Finnish riders…maybe it’s because of the food.”
After today’s slopestyle finals, the MINI Creative Use of Space (CUOS) Awards go to Jamie Anderson and Emil Ulsletten (NOR). Both of them won $5,000 each with the most creative tricks of the day. Jamie earned the award with a backside lipslide to frontside 360 Melon on the MINI CUOS feature, while Emil secured the award with a frontside Alley Oop 360 to Cab 180 on 360 out.
Men's Podium (L-R): Roope Tonteri, Aleksander Ostreng, Peetu Piiroinen
With his win today, Aleksander Ostreng moved from 24th place to the top spot of the Slopestyle Burton Global Open Series Ranking, Roope Tonteri is now in second and Sebastien Toutant is in third. On the women’s side, Jamie Anderson is of course still leading the BGOS Slopestyle Ranking, with Sina Candrian now close behind her in second and Kjersti Buaas in third.
Three-time TTR World Tour winner Peetu Piiroinen made it into the top five of the TTR Overall Ranking with his podium position in Slopestyle today. Stale Sandbech is still leading the Overall rankings. In the Slopestyle rankings, it is still a close race towards the TTR tour final, with many guys hunting for that number one spot. Jamie Anderson has pretty much cemented her first-place position in the Slopestyle ranking, with Kjersti Ostgaard-Buaas now moving up to second place. Sina Candrian made it into the top three today as well. Cilka Sadar is currently leading the Women's Overall Ranking, with Kjersti and Jamie following close in second and third position. The BEO Halfpipe contest on Saturday and the final stop of the TTR World Tour, the Burton US Open in Stratton next week, will determine who claims this year’s tour championship titles.
Jamie Anderson
Alek Ostreng
