Billabong Slopestyle NZ – FINALISTS DECIDED.

The forecast was not promising, but Mother Nature has smiled upon organisers of the Billabong Slopestyle 4-star TTR (Ticket to Ride) World Snowboard Tour event, with finalists in all four divisions being decided in good conditions at Snow Park, near Lake Wanaka in New Zealand yesterday.

More than 90 competitors representing 16 countries took to the perfectly groomed rail feature and triple jump line, as they battled it out in the Qualifying rounds.

The diverse course features rails, 40ft, 50ft and 70ft jumps and an eye-catching final feature dubbed the “Monster Volcano”, a channel-gap nipple jump with a giant inflatable Monster can jutting skyward from the channel.

Finland’s Roope Tonteri (FIN) was the day’s top scorer, registering 88.20pts out of a possible perfect 100 from the judges for his best run which included two massive 900’s, to secure his place at the top of the Open Men’s pack.

Robbie-Walker_AUS

Former NZ Billabong Big Air winner, Canadian Zak Stone, pulled a solid combination of 900’s and 720’s to also ensure his place in the final 16 and a second shot at the title he last won in 2009.

Aussie Scotty James (AUS) was another to impress, with the 17 year-old pulling one of the best tricks of the day, nailing a backflip over the Monster Volcano. James is coming in hot to the Slopestyle following his win last week in the Treble Cone Bank Slalom where he triumphed ahead of a field of 70 entrants.

The Set Up

Fellow Aussie Nick Wood (AUS) was the only other rider from across the ditch to make the final 16 alongside James.

Kiwi Milu Multhaup-Appleton (NZ) of New Zealand, first-time entrant into a TTR event, was the sole local New Zealander to progress to the finals.

“The weather was in and out for my run with some flat light and head wind but I’m stoked with my run. Riding with some top level riders from around the world is super fun and to make it to the finals is a bonus,” said Milu.

Nick Hyne, former winner, was looking among the local favourites but came unstuck on a frontside 900 tail-grab. Hamish Martin (NZ), Ben Comber (NZ), Colin Bartlett (NZ) and Luke Sinclair (NZ) were the other unlucky locals to fall short of qualifying.

In the Open Women’s, event favourite Jamie Anderson (USA), did the expected – completely nailing two huge runs to top score in her division.

Anderson’s first run included a tailslide to fakie on the down box, a switchbackside 180 mute grab, to frontside 360 melon, to backside 360 over the 65ft gap, into a stale grab over the Monster Volcano.

Until her practice runs on Thursday, Anderson had not ridden for four months prior to arriving in New Zealand with her boyfriend.

Rebecca ‘Possum’ Torr (NZ), one of five Kiwis in the field of 17, was unlucky considering she had been stomping all her tricks in practice. Torr fell on her attempted backside 180 on the first jump, over-rotating and putting herself out of contention.

Mili Multhaup-Appleton

The unexpected highlight from Day 1 Qualifying was Tyler Nicholson (CAN), bib # 88 from Canada. The 16 year-old went huge, pulling a cab 540 into a double backflip, to backside 720 – and all his moves were BIG.

Although the Juniors outcome is not official until the final presentations take place on the weekend, the word on the slopes is that Nicholson is looking good for a podium place. Stay tuned …

Robett Hollis, mainstay MC for the Billabong Slopestyle, was blown away by the standard across all divisions.

“Considering Jamie hasn’t ridden in four months, its super impressive to see her step up to the plate and show the girls what the level to beat actually is. I’m more than impressed with the grommets efforts today. We saw 13 and 14 year-olds doing double backies and back to back 7′s and 9′s which is pretty impressive. Those tricks would have won them the Open Men’s category three years ago,”

Former Billabong Slopestyle runner-up, Robbie Walker (AUS) was an anticipated starter in the Open Men’s, but withdrew at the last minute due to ongoing knee troubles.

The Slopestyle is the second stop on the 201/12 TTR World Tour and is also the first of its kind on the global calendar since the IOC (International Olympic Committee) Executive Board confirmed the discipline for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Weather permitting, organisers hope to crown champions on Saturday with Sunday an optional back-up day.

The Billabong Slope-style is presented by Sony and made possible with the support of Monster Energy, Sony Ericsson, Snow Park, DaKine, VonZipper.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 6th, 2011 at 2:17 pm and is filed under Event News, Homepage Features, Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.