Quiksilver's Iouri Podladtchikov today won the Half Pipe event of the World Snowboarding Championships in Oslo (Norway). The Russian born Swiss rider dominated the final of the event gathering the world's best snowboarders, with a 90.8 points score from his first run of the final Iouri got the better of America's Matt Ladley (87.6) and Louie Vito (86.9). Second at the Winter X Games Aspen early this year and runner up of the 2012 Dew Tour (behind Vito) last week, despite throwing two of his best runs ever in competition, Iouri, this time, left no chance to his rivals. In the "fastest and best half pipe of the season", Iouri landed an impressive run in the foggy and rainy conditions : backside double cork 1260 mute, frontside double cork 1080 truck driver, cab double cork 1080 mute ended with a frontside 1080 tail.

Iouri also expressed the support from the swiss time and his sponsors and would like to thanks everyone for there support.

At the age of 23, Iouri clinches his first World Champion title in front of a massive crowd and his parents. With the trophy he was awarded with a 40,000 USD purse.

Iouri Podladtchikov is now heading to France for the Winter X Games Tignes with his sights set at winning gold again and ending his season in a blaze of glory.

By just one point, Iouri Podladtchikov missed tonight the opportunity of bringing back home the Dew Tour cup. Despite achieving a 97 point score on his best run in the Pipe finals(backside double McTwist 1260 – frontside double cork 1080 – cab double cork 1080 – frontside 1080 – cab 1080)

Quiksilver swiss rider was beaten by American Louie Vito, runner up on the Dew Tour ranking before the last event in Snowbasin (Utah, USA). The American pulled off his victory in front of his home crowd with the highest score ever set in the Dew Tour (98 points) and finally took the trophy for the second year in a row. After winning the last Dew Tour event in Killington (Vermont, USA) and getting Silver at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Iouri is heading to Oslo for the world champs then Tignes X-Games with his sights set at winning both.

Under bright, bluebird skies, 18 of the world's most notable up-and-comers alongside the icons of snowboarding progressed the sport to a new level, as Red Bull Supernatural ran on February 4th at Baldface Lodge outside of Nelson, B.C., Canada. From the first rider to drop, Scotty Lago, through Travis Rice's final run, the never before ridden Red Bull Supernatural course challenged every aspect of the competitors' talents, bringing the most progressive riding of our time together in a single run.
 
"We're walking away with a different state of mind. This was an experiment and it's the beginning of a new, possible future for snowboarding," says Rice. "These guys ride like this all the time. It's just a really tough thing to capture, even in a video part. No breaks, riding first tracks and on all-natural terrain. Here we are able to showcase the talent in snowboarding today."
 
Rice came out hot from the very start putting down a nearly flawless run, hitting as many features as possible, stomping landings and adding inversions to multiple maneuvers. His first score of 91 held the top spot throughout the day. Gigi Rüf scored 84 points on his first run, which held the second spot throughout the day. Nicolas Müller topped John Jackson's score of 80.6, with an 82.6 in the final run with buttery transitions and the solid, stylish riding he is known for. But Jackson didn't walk away empty handed, he won ‘Best Trick' by stomping a double cork 1080 off the big kicker on his final run.
 
"We had no idea that people would tee off that big without having ever seen anyone hit the features before," says Tom Burt, Head Judge for Red Bull Supernatural. "This contest puts together where snowboarding is headed, riding the mountains. But adding freestyle riding into the mix really ups the level. Nature alone can't fully provide a course like this."
 
Travis Rice's dream run for Red Bull Supernatural is built across 2,200 vertical feet on the slope nicknamed "Scary Cherry." The run is now host to over 80 man-made features including pillow lines, enormous platforms and goal posts in the over 40 degree top section. Most riders had hit five or more features over varying size before heading into the super-kickers where fresh powder landings allowed riders to open up with speed and style. The final slopestyle section had pillow platforms to tap and log rides that took riders straight into the finish line.  

"Today was a great example of where our sport is going and what we can do to get it to the next level," says Jeff Pensiero, Owner of Baldface Lodge. "I was surprised at how much these guys really stepped up their game to ride this course. I thought a lot of it was not rideable, but these guys proved that they earn their livings exceeding expectations."
 
RESULTS:
1.      Travis Rice                            91.00
2.      Gigi Rüf                                84.00
3.      Nicolas Müller                     82.60
4.      John Jackson                        80.60
5.      Lucas Debari                        77.00

Iouri Podladtchikov (Swi), 23, last night added a new medal to his name while taking the Winter X Games Silver Medal in Snowboard Super Pipe final behing Shaun White. This fourth medal at the X Games comes after Silver in Aspen in 2010, Gold in 2010 and Silver in 2011 in Europe and confirms the Russian born Swiss rider's amazing level. With a 93 points out of 100 in the final, Quiksilver's I-Pod is definitely one of the best Half Pipe riders in the world.

Despite missing Gold, Iouri said that although he didn't win, he was satisfied  with his performance. "I am really happy actually because I have never put that run down so clean," an exhausted Podladtchikov said following his last run. "I wish I had another run because I was just getting warmed up.  It was my personal best run so far but it wasn't enough today."

After Eric Willett's win yesterday in the slopestyle event, Iouri Podladtchikov today carried again high the Quiksilver flag by winning the half pipe event of the 2011/2012 Dew Tour second stop in Killington, Vermont, USA. American rider Louie Vito was leading the final when I-Pod dropped in the icy killington half pipe.

The Swiss Russian born snowboarding star won the final throwing a Cab 720, frontside crippler into back 1260 into front 1080 to cab 1080 all perfectly landed with an impressive amplitude and his tailor made smooth style. Despite an engaged second run, Vito could not overtake Iouri, declared the winner by the judges with a 96,75 points score out of 100. After his third place finish in Breckenridge last month, Iouri takes the lead of the Dew Tour Rankings with 182 points in front of Louie Vito, second with 180 points. With one week to go before the X Games, I-Pod looks in a terrific shape !

Quiksilver rider Eric Willett, 23, came out swingng in his first run in Saturday's men snowboard slopestyle Finals in Killington, Vermont. On a day where a recent snow was slowing down the course, many of the havy hitters including Chas Guldemond and Mark McMorris were having trouble landing their reuns. But not Willett, who came in with confidence and came through with his riding.

“You just got to be confortable with your riding and know what you can do and just kind of go for it and send it,” Willett said.

His first run scored a 91,00 and went like this : front 270 on down rail in the first section to gap front lip 270 out on the gap down in the second. On the third section, he went for a front board switchout on the cannon. Next up were the three jumps, and he did a switch back 10 double into a cab 9 double to finish with a front 10 double.
He's now in third overall in the race for the Dew Cup heading into the last event in Snowbasin (UT).

Read more on http://www.allisports.com

Quiksilver's Eric Willett (USA) today took the second place of the 6 star TTR stop in Davos (Swi) in the slopestyle event. The US rider was narrowly defeated (0.3 points) by his good friend Mark McMorris (Can) in the final while Seppe Smits (Bel) took the 3rd place. This new podium in a slopestyle event illustrate Willett's great form this year. The last US Open winner and current leader of the overall Big Air TTR ranking this season will be soon heading to Aspen to compete in both slopestyle and big air events at the next Winter X Games. According to his season start, Willett looks, more than ever, as a strong contender for gold in Colorado where he already won in 2010 (slopestyle).

With clear domination and outstanding performance in the super final, Elias Elhardt (GER) won the 5Star Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by QUIKSILVER. Victor de le Rue (FRA) grabbed second place with the best combination of style and tech runs. Third place went to current TTR Big Air World Tour leader Roope Tonteri (FIN).

With wind and snow issues in the morning, the contest had a rocky start. Hurricane Joachim created quite a stir, canceling Friday's training session and causing the organization to seal off the event site. The crew was challenged to prepare ideal conditions for today's competition, but as the winds calmed today the contest took off and presented some top notch snowboarding to the 6000 spectators.

“It's obviously super cool to win in your home country, the crowd went wild. It's both the first and last contest for me this season, as I will concentrate on filming. Therefore it couldn't have been a better day,” says favorite Elias Elhardt, who won the contest with his Frontside 360 Stalefish - Frontside Boardslide run for style, and  a Frontside 900 Melon - 270 Frontside Boardslide on his technical run. With these two runs combined, Elias had the highest score in the super final.

With another 5Star TTR Big Air contest wrapped up, Roope Tonteri is still solidly leading the TTR Big Air World Tour Ranking. German Ethan Morgan moved up into the Big Air second place. There were no changes in the Overall ranking results, Roope Tonteri is still ranked 3rd. Quiksilver rider Markku Koski (FIN) was ranked 9th, the Austrian talent Mathias Weissenbacher made it to rank 11, and team fellow Felix Georgii from Rettenberg/Germany took rank 22.

In anticipation of the World Snowboarding Championships from 10-19 of February in Oslo, Norway, riders have another few chances in the last days of 2011 to qualify for the Halfpipe and Slopestyle disciplines. 4Star Events US Revolution Tour and the Burton Pro-Test give opportunities in the USA. The O'Neill Evolution, from 2-8 January in Davos (SUI) features a 5Star Halfpipe and 6Star Big Air contest. The 6Star Big Air for men and women will count as a Slopestyle result for WSC qualification. The RedBull Nanshan Open in China is the next 5Star Slopestyle opportunity. WSF 1-3Star events also count for the TTR Points lists.

Im vergangenen Januar erlebte Stuttgart eine handfeste Überraschung. Mit dem „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart“ fand in der Sportstadt zum ersten Mal ein hochkarätiger, internationaler Snowboard-Contest statt. Und obwohl Stuttgart nicht unbedingt zu den Wintersport-Mekkas dieser Welt zählt, war der Event ein voller Erfolg. Die rund 10.000 Zuschauer und das World Snowboard Tour Committee (TTR), das den Wettbewerb kurz nach seiner Premiere vom 4-Star zum 5-Star TTR Event beförderte, waren begeistert. Am 16. und 17. Dezember geht der Event als „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ nun in die zweite Runde. Im Stuttgarter Neckarpark werden wieder die besten Rider der internationalen Snowboard-Szene an den Start gehen und um insgesamt 50.000 US-Dollar Preisgeld, 850 TTR-Weltranglistenpunkte und erstmals auch ein Ticket für die Snowboard-Weltmeisterschaft 2012 in Oslo kämpfen – diesmal präsentiert von Quiksilver.

Mit seinen Wettbewerbsbedingungen hebt sich der BIGAIR Stuttgart von anderen Snowboard-Contests ab – die Kombination aus der spektakulären, 36 Meter hohen Bigair-Rampe und dem Staircase, einer Kombination aus Treppenstufen und Metallgeländer, ist bei einem In-City-Event weltweit einzigartig. Quiksilver freut sich, beim diesjährigen Event Partner zu sein: „Wir freuen uns sehr, beim BIGAIR Stuttgart 2011 als Partner mit dabei sein zu können. Nachdem der Event im letzten Jahr sehr erfolgreich startete, war für uns sofort klar, dass wir uns mit den Veranstaltern zusammensetzen werden“, so Armin Weber, Quiksilver Marketing Manager.

Das Fahrerfeld beim zweiten „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ verspricht einen sportlichen Wettkampf auf höchstem Niveau. Die derzeitige Nummer Eins der TTR Weltrangliste, Roope Tonteri aus Finnland, ist ebenso am Start wie sein Landsmann, Olympia-Sechster und Quiksilver-Teamrider Markku Koski. Außerdem dabei: Quiksilver-Teamkollege sowie österreichischer Halfpipe- und Slopestyle-Meister Mathias Weissenbacher, Janne Korpi, der erst vergangene Woche den „Relentless Freeze“ in London gewann, die Schweden Nils Arvidsson und Kevin Backstrom, Mario Käppeli aus der Schweiz und der umjubelte Publikumsliebling und Zweitplatzierte des letzten Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart, Werni Stock aus Österreich.

Und auch die Nachwuchs-Talente bekommen am 17. Dezember (ab 15 Uhr) im Stuttgarter Neckarpark wieder eine Chance, sich für den Profi-Wettbewerb zu qualifizieren: Der Sieger der „Rookie-Challenge“ erhält eine Wildcard für das Hauptfeld und kann an der Seite der internationalen Stars Erfahrung sammeln.

Der Main-Event startet um 17 Uhr mit der Qualifikation. Im Halbfinale (19 Uhr) stehen sich dann die letzten acht Fahrer gegenüber und fahren um den Einzug in das Finale um 21 Uhr.

Doch nicht nur der sportliche Wettkampf kommt beim zweiten „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ als Upgrade wieder – auch das Rahmenprogramm hat es in sich. Für den richtigen Sound zum Event sorgen die DJs „The Famous Deck Team“ sowie die Bands „Die Orsons“ und „Die Boys (Deichkind) & Ein Girl (Maral Salmassi)“. Die Messe BRANDSTATION präsentiert den Besuchern zwei Tage lang die Trends der Szene. Neu dabei ist das Snowboardmuseum, das Exponate aus 40 Jahren Snowboardgeschichte ausstellt. Und natürlich gibt's nach dem Event wieder den musikalischen Showdown – die Aftershowparty im Club Zollamt ab 22.00Uhr – bei der The Famous Deck Team, Drunken Masters, Kool DJ Swist, Busy Icer + Denson und Tease an den Plattentellern stehen.

Der Ticketvorverkauf für „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ hat begonnen! Preis: 29,50 Euro (statt 35,00 Euro an der Tageskasse). Infos zu den Vorverkaufsstellen gibt's unter www.bigair-stuttgart.com

TIMETABLE

Freitag, 16. Dezember 2011

13 - 20 Uhr (freier Eintritt)

+ offizielles Training

+ Brandstation – begleitende Messe

+ Snowboardmuseum

Samstag, 17. Dezember 2011

13.00 Uhr      Einlass

15.00 Uhr      Rookie Challenge

17.00 Uhr      Qualifikation

18.30 Uhr      Die Boys (Deichkind) & Ein Girl (Maral Salmassi) - LIVE –

19.00 Uhr      Training

19.30 Uhr      Halbfinale

20.30 Uhr      Die Orsons - LIVE -

21.00 Uhr      Finale

21.30 Uhr      Siegerehrung

22.00 Uhr      Aftershow Party

+ Brandstation – begleitende Messe

+ Snowboardmuseum

Im vergangenen Januar erlebte Stuttgart eine handfeste Überraschung. Mit dem „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart“ fand in der Sportstadt zum ersten Mal ein hochkarätiger, internationaler Snowboard-Contest statt. Und obwohl Stuttgart nicht unbedingt zu den Wintersport-Mekkas dieser Welt zählt, war der Event ein voller Erfolg. Die rund 10.000 Zuschauer und das World Snowboard Tour Committee (TTR), das den Wettbewerb kurz nach seiner Premiere vom 4-Star zum 5-Star TTR Event beförderte, waren begeistert. Am 16. und 17. Dezember geht der Event als „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ nun in die zweite Runde. Im Stuttgarter Neckarpark werden wieder die besten Rider der internationalen Snowboard-Szene auf der 36 Meter hohen Bigair-Rampe an den Start gehen und um insgesamt 50.000 US-Dollar Preisgeld, 850 TTR-Weltranglistenpunkte und erstmals auch ein Ticket für die Snowboard-Weltmeisterschaft 2012 in Oslo kämpfen – diesmal präsentiert von Quiksilver.

Das Fahrerfeld beim zweiten „Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart presented by Quiksilver“ verspricht einen sportlichen Wettkampf auf höchstem Niveau. Die derzeitige Nummer Eins der TTR Weltrangliste, Roope Tonteri aus Finnland, ist ebenso am Start wie sein Landsmann, Olympia-Sechster und Quiksilver-Teamrider Markku Koski. Außerdem dabei: Quiksilver-Teamkollege sowie österreichischer Halfpipe- und Slopestyle-Meister Mathias Weissenbacher, Janne Korpi, der erst vergangene Woche den „Relentless Freeze“ in London gewann, die Schweden Nils Arvidsson und Kevin Backstrom, Mario Käppeli aus der Schweiz und der umjubelte Publikumsliebling und Zweitplatzierte des letzten Relentless BIGAIR Stuttgart, Werni Stock aus Österreich.

TIMETABLE

Freitag, 16. Dezember 2011

13 - 20 Uhr (freier Eintritt)

+ offizielles Training

+ Brandstation – begleitende Messe

+ Snowboardmuseum

Samstag, 17. Dezember 2011

13.00 Uhr      Einlass

15.00 Uhr      Rookie Challenge

17.00 Uhr      Qualifikation

18.30 Uhr      Die Boys (Deichkind) & Ein Girl (Maral Salmassi) - LIVE –

19.00 Uhr      Training

19.30 Uhr      Halbfinale

20.30 Uhr      Die Orsons - LIVE -

21.00 Uhr      Finale

21.30 Uhr      Siegerehrung

22.00 Uhr      Aftershow Party

+ Brandstation – begleitende Messe

+ Snowboardmuseum