Riders Stoked On Air + Style Practice In Beijing

Oakley Event at Nanshan Ski Village

Words & Photos by Matthew Murray: Oakley, Inc.

The day before the madness that is Air + Style here in Beijing saw plenty of early action. Things on the ground have been hectic, but a fun time all around with shopping, ventures to the Great Wall, ripping snow in the mountains and a killer first practice at the Olympic Center Stadium.

First things the morning kicked off with Shaun White hitting the slopes and the Chinese snow of Nanshan Ski Village for the first time since his gold medal winning run at Cypress Mountain. Shaun was super stoked to get his first chance to shred in over ten months and to do it on his first trip to China made it that much more epic. The fans went nuts and the media was all over him, creating quite a scene for the small ski town.

Shaun White Arrives To Nanshan Ski Village

BBC Interviews Shaun White

Next up it was time to head to the stadium for the first official day of practice. The jump is freaking massive, I mean stupid big, good thing seven German engineers constructed the scaffolding. It is quite the sight in the fact it’s the first time the drop in ramp is built from the ground up and not into the stadium seats.

Anyway to the action, all the boys were super stoked on the conditions from the jump’s shape to the pop to the speed to the setting and everyone started throwing down.

Seb Toots definitely stole the afternoon practice session with doubles here and doubles there, but also throwing down were Bang Bang and Scotty with super stylish 900s and 1080s.

Taking the day’s prize for best style had to be Seven Samurai leader, Kazuhiro Kokubo with insanely nasty and stalled out backside 180 Japan airs.

Look for the boys to be throwing the harms tonight from Beijing; you can catch all the action online with the Freecaster webcast.

Action begins at 5pm Beijing time, no idea what time that is where you are, but if you live on the west coast of the US, just dial that back the clock 16 hours from 5pm Saturday evening.

More to come from the grounds of the Olympic Center Stadium tomorrow morning, Beijing time.

Two Dogs Enjoying Themsleves In The Village