Newschoolers
Newschoolers
Twitter Facebook Fan
   
  1. Home
    • Hot (New!)
    • Latest (New!)
    • Top Rated (New!)
    • Video of the Day
    • Video of the Week
    • Video of the Month
  2. News
    • Features
    • Top Rated (New!)
    • Interviews
    • Events
    • Opinions
    • Industry News
    • Site
    • Product Info
    • Press Releases
  3. Forums
    • Site Discussion
    • Ski Gabber
    • Non-Ski Gabber
    • Media & Arts
    • Regionals
    • Cults
    • Gear Talk
    • Sell/Trade
    • WTB
  4. Pictures
    • Big Mountain
    • Halfpipe
    • Trending
    • Top Rated
    • Latest
    • Jumps
    • Rails
    • Sequences
    • Crash
    • Ski Equipment
  5. Videos
    • Summer
    • Jumps
    • Edits
    • Trending
    • Latest
    • Top Rated
    • Rails
    • Halfpipe
    • Big Mountain
    • Crash
    • Trailers
  6. Community
    • Reviews
    • Events
    • Polls
    • Games
    • Donate!
    • Top Rated Members
    • Cults
  7. NSTV
    • Chug Life
    • 4bi9
    • Traveling Circus
    • Salomon FSTV
    • The Weak
    • Westward
    • Inspired TV
    • COC TV
    • K2 TV
    • 4FRNT TV
  8. Contests
  9. Gear
    • Sell and Trade
    • Gear Talk
    • Reviews
    • Subscribe to Powder
  10. Store
Home News Forums Pictures Videos
Login to NS   |   Lost your password?   |   Register for NS
Lost your password? | Register for NS

New Zealand Open Slopestyle

Views: 22249
Comments: 135
New Zealand Open Slopestyle Aug 19th 2009
By: schmuckUltimate Bling!
 
Font Size: A A A

Words & photos by Dan Carr

Every August an increasing proportion of the skiing community makes the migration south of the Equator to Wanaka, New Zealand. With so many of the top pros in town, the competition scene here has been heating up over the last couple of years and the word about town was that this year's New Zealand Freeski Open could very well play host to the most impressive slopestyle competition ever witnessed. The vibe amongst the competitors was unique, everybody was stoked to be skiing with each other again, and stoked on the course that Cardona had laid down for them.

Starting off with a couple of flat-down rails, into a pair of parallel up rails, followed by three jumps of increasing size; it wasn’t the longest course but it was beautifully prepared.

Click for larger image

This was the first year that Cardrona had hosted the New Zealand open but the course was perfect.

Click for larger image

Anna Segal sending the flatspin 3 on the final jump.

The women’s competition went down first on day ine and Dania Assaly took home first with a solid run ending with a 900 on the money booter at the bottom of the course. This years X Games slope winner, Anna Segal, came in second with her 180, switch 5 and flat 3 combo on the bottom three jumps. Third place went to Eva-Maria Patscheider from Austria who added the podium finish to her third place at this year’s European Open.

Click for larger image

Eva-Maria Patscheider

Click for larger image

Eva-Maria Patscheider (3rd), Dania Assaly (1st), Anna Segal (2nd)

Women's Results

1) Dania Assally - 89.4
2) Anna Segal - 85.8
3) Eva-Maria Patscheider - 82.8
4) Chiho Takao - 63.0
5) Arianna Tricomi - 56.6
6) Shuri Terada - 51.6
7) Sofie Windstedt - 17.6
8) Julie Benard - 17.4

Twelve riders were pre-qualified for the men’s finals but a further eight would need to be selected from the 51 strong field in the qualifiers. Unfortunately the weather had other plans though and notorious “Cardrona fog” came in quick and thick. All 50 riders successfully completed their first runs but following this the judges had a tough time seeing the whole course...

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

Weather caused a few problems for some of the riders...

Riders and judges persevered with the conditions, sending someone every time a gap in the clouds appeared. At the end of the day though, not every rider managed to complete both qualifying runs so the decision was made to bump the finals to the next day and to give all riders a rebate on their second qualifying run the next morning.

Wanaka woke to a cloudless sky the next morning and the delay to the finals had only served to heighten people’s expectations. When training began in the morning it was obvious that the crowd wouldn’t be disappointed as a continuous train of double variations was sent over the final jump. Today, spinning both ways and throwing a dub was not going to guarantee you anything. In fact, 19 of the 22 finalists threw some sort of double variation on the final jump and only a couple of guys were not ambidextrously spinning in every direction. A little time away from the competition scene seemed to have done the world of good and it was great to see everyone having such a good time in a relaxed atmosphere.

Click for larger image

Click for larger image

Tom Wallisch – There’s a new Hood House in Wanaka this week.

Click for larger image

Henrik Harlaut

Click for larger image

AJ Kemppainen

Click for larger image

Bobby Brown held this grab all day long in his dub 10's.

Click for larger image

Russ Henshaw would be doing a different grab in the next frame if there was one. Mute/Japan dub 10

Click for larger image

John Spriggs is taller than you.

Relaxed as it felt though, the guys were there to do business and I didn’t envy the judges job at all. Check the video embedded below to see the top three runs.

Click for larger image

Benny Mayr proving you don’t need all your teeth to do switch misty 9’s

Click for larger image

Chug life Down Under

Click for larger image

Byron Wells welcomes you to New Zealand

When the scores were tallied up Bobby Brown came out on top closely followed by Wallish who put down an almost identical run apart from the top rail feature. Bobby went with the switch 450 disaster and Wallisch went for the blind swap, pretzl. The top 3 all finished off their runs with perfect double cork 12's.

Click for larger image

Henrik Harlaut (3rd), Bobby Brown (1st), Tom Wallisch (2nd)

Men's Results

1) Bobby Brown - 93.0
2) Tom Wallish - 90.0
3) Henrik Harlaut - 86.6
4) Matt Margetts - 83.0
5) Russ Henshaw - 81.0
6) Jossi Wells - 78.2
7) Per Christian Fosse - 75.4
8) AJ Kemppainen - 74.4
9) Elias Ambühl - 70.6
10) Mike Hornbeck - 67.4
11) Jaime Puigdengoles - 62.2
12) Ian Cosco - 55.0
13) Bene Mayr - 53.2
14) John Spriggs - 50.8
15) Byron Wells - 49.4
16) Matt Soundy - 45.4
17) Andri Ambühl - 39.2
18) Gus Kenworthy - 25.0
19) Leigh Powis - 22.0
20) Kentaro Tsuda - 15.0

This really was one of the most impressive displays yet seen by the freeskiing community. “The slopestyle course was awesome. I loved it,” said Brown. “It was the best competition I’ve been in for a long time, the event had a great feel to it.” The evolution of slopestyle skiing continues then and whilst the podium finishers all used the double cork 12 as their weapon, it was also good to see some innovation amongst other riders, throwing in new grabs or even entirely new axis' into their doubles. Elias Ambuhl and Matt Margetts in particular brought something different to the final jump in the line. And a quick shout needs to go out to Matt Phillipi and Andri Ambuhl. Both guys skied super hard but had nasty falls. Heal fast my friends.

Stay tuned to NS for more coverage on the Volkl New Zealand Freeski Open, including the epic halfpipe competition that just wrapped up at Cardrona.

Related Articles

New Zealand Freeski Open Slopestyle Finals

New Zealand Freeski Open Slopestyle Finals

Aug 31st 2012

Russ Henshaw and Emilia Wint prevail in the first slopestyle contest of the 2012/2013 season at The North Face Freeski Open of New Zealand at Snow Park NZ. *Updated with video!*

  1. Views: 16685
  2. Comments: 19
  3.  
     
New Zealand Freeski Open Slopestyle Finals

New Zealand Freeski Open Slopestyle Finals

Sep 2nd 2011

Jossi Wells takes the top spot in the men's division while Kim Lamarre prevails amongst the ladies in ski slopestyle finals at The North Face Freeski Open of New Zealand.

  1. Views: 19418
  2. Comments: 35
  3.  
     
Deadline Draws Near For The North Face Freeski Open of New Zealand Slopestyle and Halfpipe Registration

Deadline Draws Near For The North Face Freeski Open of New Zealand Slopestyle and Halfpipe Registration

Jul 21st 2011

The countdown is on for those wishing to register for The North Face Freeski Open of New Zealand, Slopestyle and Halfpipe.

  1. Views: 12869
  2. Comments: 0
  3.  
     
NZed n’ KFeds – Another NZ Open Vid

NZed n’ KFeds – Another NZ Open Vid

Sep 20th 2009

A few of the runs from the New Zealand Open slopestyle and halfpipe contests at Cardrona Ski Area. Enjoy! Slopestyle: Bobby Brown 1st, ARC rider Tom Wallisch 2nd, Henrik Harlaut 3rd

  1. Views: 1999
  2. Comments: 2
  3.  
     
share this news
Tweet
 
 
Score: 58

Comments

  1. There are no comments on this topic.

Add Comment:

You may use these HTML tags: <b> <i> <u> <p> <ul> <li>

If tags are ill-formed they may be removed.

URLs are automatically made into links.

To display an image you must put the image location between [IMG]..[/IMG] tags.

News RSS

  • RSS for All News
  • RSS for Press Releases Press Releases
  • RSS for Event Coverage Event Coverage
  • RSS for Interviews/Profiles Interviews/Profiles
  • RSS for Opinions Opinions
  • RSS for Features Features
  • RSS for Product Info Product Info
  • RSS for Industry News Industry News
  • RSS for Site News Site News
  • RSS for X Games X Games

More News in Site News

placeholder

GrindMedia MTNAdvisor Surfer Magazine Surfing Magazine Powder Magazine Snowboarder Magazine Skateboarder Magazine Canoe & Kayak Bike Magazine Standup Paddler Fantasy Surfer GrindTV Surf Ski Motocross Mountain Bike
Copyright © 2013 GrindMedia, LLC. All rights reserved.
(Version 4.0.12)
Rendered in 43.7ms
Home | Advertise | Register | Contact | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Logout