Words & photos by Ananda van Welij

After a few days of the opposite, and as predicted, the weather changed completely here in Åre, Sweden yesterday as we all awoke to blue skies and sunshine. It was perfect conditions to start the day, recover from the party the night before, explore the village, and prepare ourselves for the evening’s qualifiers...

Lolo with a little freeskier.

The ladies of the JOI organization, Olivia and Maja.

Markus Eder and Jonas Hunziker chilling before training.

At 5 p.m. it was time for the riders meeting. Every rider was given three runs to qualify for finals on Saturday and the top 20 (excluding Jon) would advance.

Mr Olsson at the riders meeting.

Sunshine, a perfectly shaped jump and a crew of riders stoked to hit it again after two days off provided just the right setting for practice. And just like the first session, it got wild. Russ Henshaw and McRae Williams got their triples down again, followed by a triple cork 14 from Elias Ambühl, the third skier to land the impressive trick.

Oscar Scherlin

Dropping in while the crowds enjoyed the action and sunshine.

PC Fosse

Andreas Håtveit's wife Elise and Russ Henshaw's girlfriend Laura watching their men throw down.

Jon Olsson hitting his jump before getting in the speed suit.

As the sun went down the crowd started to get bigger, and at 8 p.m. it was time to start the qualifiers. With Luke Van Valin on the mic explaining the tricks to everyone and music pumping in the background, the evening absolute went off. Double cork 10s and 12s were a plenty and both Elias and Russ put their triples to their feet, along with McRae Williams, who stomped the first ever switch triple rodeo 12 in a competition.

The Easter holiday gave a lot of people the opportunity to come out to Åre and check out the event.

Alex Schlopy

Markus Eder

Kevin Rolland

PK Hunder

Elias Ambühl putting down his triple cork 1440.

Russ Henshaw in the middle of his first of three corks.

Finals are going down later today, and needless to say, expectations are high. Stay tuned for more coverage on the Jon Olsson Invitational, and for more info and updates on the event be sure to check out http://www.joinvitational.com.

JOI-VB_DAY5_QUALIFICATIONS! from Jon Olsson Video Blog on Vimeo.

Results

1) Elias Ambuhl

2) PK Hunder

3) McRae Williams

4) Andreas Håtveit

5) Alexander Aurdal

6) Oscar Scherlin

7) Ole C. Mustad

8) Chris Laker

9) Russ Henshaw

10) Jonas Hunziker

11) PC Fosse

12) Christopher Hjälmby

13) Markus Eder

14) Fritjof Frisriksson

15) Alex Schlopy

16) Jeremy Pancras

17) Nicolas Vuignier

18) Kristoffer Edwall

19) Oscar Harlaut

20) Laurent Favre

cut-off

21) Kai Mahler

22) Kevin Rolland

23) Oscar Wester

24) Julien Lange

25) Klaus Finne