2008 Burton European Open: Junior And Youth Halfpipe Results
Norwegian Silje Norendal & Canadian Zak Stone Win Burton European Open 2008 Junior Halfpipe Competition
LAAX, Switzerland – Yesterday at the Burton European Open, the juniors took over the massive BEO halfpipe up on Crap Sogn Gion for the finals competition under heavy snowfall. At 9:00 a.m., there was over 30 cm of new snow on the ground, and the snow continued to fall heavily all day. Fifteen-year-old Silje Norendal from Norway, who also placed second in yesterday’s junior slopestyle competition, put together the best run in the junior girls competition, despite challenging conditions. She started her run by throwing down a big method air to frontside air, followed by a solid backside air, into a front 3 indy, followed by a Cab 5 mute, to front 5, finishing with a stylish ally-oop handplant.
The young rippers made the best of the powder conditions, charging as hard as they could to gain enough speed to rip through the snow-filled halfpipe. The snow was falling so heavily and fast that the pipe filled up almost as soon as it was cleared out. Laax’s pipe crew led by Ivan Capaul worked tirelessly throughout today’s competition to clear deep snow from the bottom of the halfpipe so the juniors could try to put their runs together.
In the boys junior competition, 16-year-old winner, Zak Stone had one of the best runs of the day, starting off with a huge backside air, followed by a front 7 stalefish, followed by a Haakon flip, front 5 melon, finishing off with a backside 9. Stone put together a very impressive run, despite the conditions and seemingly annual Burton European Open powder day at Laax. Yesterday, Zak took second in the juniors slopestyle competition, clearly dominating the competition in both disciplines.
In the younger girls halfpipe competition, the winner was thirteen-year-old French rider Emma Claire Bernard, who also won yesterday’s slopestyle competition for her age group. Scott James from Australia took the top spot in the younger boys halfpipe competition, making this his second win at the BEO after taking first place in yesterday’s slopestyle competition. Scott had the following to say, “I’m pretty pumped because I didn’t expect to win again today. It’s the first time I’ve competed at the BEO in Laax and I can’t wait to come back again next year.”
Top invited riders like Shaun White, Antti Autti, Danny Davis, Andy Finch, Nicolas Müller, Kevin Pearce, Cheryl Maas, Jamie Anderson, Torah Bright and Kelly Clark will all be in Laax today, just in time to enjoy the incredible powder and get ready to compete in the BEO 6-Star TTR slopestyle semi-finals on Tuesday and the halfpipe semi-finals on Wednesday.
Results:
Name Nationality Sponsor Points
Result Halfpipe Boys Juniors
1- Zak Stone CAN VOLCOM 86.7
2- Bryan Shuey USA OAKLEY 82.0
3- Ben Watts USA BURTON 78.8
4- Rafael Imhof SUI FTWO 72.0
5- Giorgio Ciancaleoni ITA BURTON 68.0
Result Halfpipe Girls Juniors
1- Silje Norendal NOR ROXY 69.7
2- Cilka Sadar SLO BURTON 61.3
3- Melanie Hofmeister GER BURTON 58.8
4- Alicia Bonnaud FRA RIDE 52.5
5- Mirabelle Thovex FRA ---- 50.7
Result Halfpipe Boys Youth
1 Scott James AUS QUIKSILVER 63.3
2 Jan Scherrer SUI FORUM 56.0
3 Niels Regnier FRA NITRO 47.7
Result Halfpipe Girls Youth
1 Emma Claire Bernard FRA ROXY 33.2
2 Chloé Trespeuch FRA ---- 19.0
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
opensnowboarding.com.
About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard TourThe Burton Global Open Series is part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a Swatch TTR World Champion at the US Open. The Burton European Open are a 6Start TTR Event and are therefore ranked at the highest possible Star level. For more information, visit
ttrworldtour.com .