Jon Olsson Super Sessions Day 3

words by Jeff Schmuck
photos by Felix Rioux

Day 3 was a busy one at the Jon Olsson Super Sessions. The day began with the first annual Swedish Open, which saw a large contingency of up-and-coming Scandinavians duke it out for the ultimate prize, an invite to the next JOI, which will be taking place in Monaco, New York or Dubai, possibly as early as this fall.

The Swedish Open

Much like the North American Open, the qualifiers were jam format with Jon, along with Philou Poirier, judging the event. The course was comprised of three jumps that were a tad on the small side (likely because most of the jump builders’ energy has gone into the features for the Super Sessions), but the level of skiing was high, proving that the Scandinavian invasion isn’t on its way…it’s here.

Oscar Scherlin

After the field was narrowed down to 22 riders after the qualifiers, the finals started and finished with a bang, as Oscar Scherlin, the early favorite to win the event, was in second place for most of the finals behind Kim Boberg. After a host of Swedes and Norwegians strutted their stuff for Jon and Philou, Kim and Oscar remained neck-and-neck until the bitter end, when Oscar, who qualified first, had the last run in finals and one more chance to beat out Kim for the invite to JOI.

Kim Boberg

As Luke Van Valin built the suspense on the mic in only the way he can, Oscar dropped in and unfortunately bobbled the landing on his switch 10 off the top hit, giving Kim the win, an invite to JOI, and much to his delight, access to all the Super Session features. Right behind the top two was Tom-Oliver Hedwall in third.

Oscar Scherlin (2nd), Kim Boberg (1st), Tom-Oliver Hedwall (3rd) and Jon Olsson

A few hours later, the Super Sessions continued and next on the list was the Rhythm Section, which was three bmx-style jumps in a row, tranny-to-tranny. The shoot began at dusk and went well into the night under the lights in front of a modest crowd that hiked up to watch the festivities.

The Rhythm Section

The session itself took a bit to get going as due to the close proximity of the jumps, the athletes had to take some time to get use to the triple line, and many skipped the third jump for the better part of the night.

Jacob Wester

Right off the bat though, Jacob Wester had the speed figured out and proceeded to throw some of the most stylish tricks seen all night.

Andreas & Jon Hatveit

Also firing things up was Andreas Hatveit, who with his brother in tow was throwing left and right 5’s, 7’s and 9’s, both switch and regular.

Colby West

Colby West continued to show what a wildly amazing skier he is, by throwing some dope switch 7’s with ridiculously tweaked-out grabs and zero spinning the entire line, which was perhaps one of the sickest things all night.

Sammy Carlson

Henrik Harlaut

Also showing off the style that is second nature to them was Sammy Carlson and Henrik Harlaut, with Sammy’s clean as a whistle switch 5’s and flatspin 3’s and Henrik’s switch cork 10 off the top hit being some of the nicest tricks of the night.

Peter Olenick and his photographer Charles Spina

Also back in action after a few day hiatus (courtesy of a sore knee) was Peter Olenick, who was throwing 9’s, switch 7’s and his trademark flatspin 3’s until it was time to call it a night.

Mike Clarke

Mike Clarke kicked things off tonight as well after finally receiving his lost skis, and despite having some binding trouble was throwing some of the most technical tricks of the session, including his beautiful switch and regular cork 9’s.

Oscar Scherlin

On the massive side of things, going biggest all night was Oscar Scherlin, who had the speed of the jumps more than figured out and was going absolutely huge off every hit.

Simon Dumont

And last but not least, Simon Dumont continued to prove how bad he wants to win this competition by working his ass off all night and seemingly getting more jumps in than anyone else. Simon brought the rain with a variety of tricks, including some switch and regular cork 5’s with unique grabs and perhaps the ballsiest line of the night, a superman front flip off the top hit to a double front off the second.

Unfortunately, the host with the most Jon Olsson couldn’t participate in tonight’s session after tweaking his knee earlier today. His knee is beginning to feel better but he says it may be a day or two before he can jump again. Here’s hoping he heals up quick.

So after a busy day here in Are, another huge party is just a few hours away where the shenanigans will surely be as high as they’ve been all week, especially considering tomorrow’s session (which will be on the old school freestyle jump, aka The Experiment, which looks insane by the way) will also take place at night. Check back tomorrow for more daily coverage from the sickest event of the year.