Mark McMorris and Spencer O'Brien win the 6Star TTR O'Neill Evolution 2012 in Davos, Switzerland. 

The snow hasn't let up all week in Davos (we took out Grilo, Mark McMorris, Seb Toots and Tor Lundstrom for some deep snorkel missions in the trees, check out The Sounds of Powder in the Features)!! Today and tonight for the finals of the Big Air of the O'Neill Evolution, celebrating O'Neill's 60th anniversary, was no exception. Despite the heavy snowfall, the world's best international male and female riders all turned up to throw down for the $125,000 prize purse and TTR ranking points. 

The atmosphere was intense as the top 16 men, I mean boys, battled it out for the honors and the massive $40,000 check combined with a crazy number of TTR points to help seeding into the World Championships. Eric Willet thought he had it in the bag when he stomped a perfect switch backside double cork 1260 to front lip 270 out on the wall ride on his second run, until Mark McMorris amazingly snatched it away from him with an even bigger, near flawless backside double cork 1260 mute and a super-tech hardway cab 270 back lip on the down rail, gapping out huge over the kink. Seppe Smits turned up the heat in his final run and landed a cab 1440 mute to cab 270 front board, but it wasn't enough to take the lead and homeboy ended up in third.







The women's, actually girls, final was held during the day in what proved to be the best weather conditions during the whole contest. The top 8 girls raised the bar in women's snowboarding as some young talent emerged leaving some of the more established women behind. 

Spencer O'Brien stomped into first place with a sweet frontside 720 nosebone and a gap lipslide on the rail. She collected a cool $20k for her efforts. Swiss local Sina Candrian took home 2nd place and Austrian rookie sensation Anna Gasser came in 3rd with a stylish back 5 mute and front board to 50-50 front one out on the rail. 



THE SEMI-FINALS

WOW! Mother Nature has given the O'Neill Evolution the two-finger salute and dumped a massive load all over Davos. It's made it tough conditions for contest riding but we haven't seen so many smiles on so many rider's faces, ever - at a contest. The day was spent in waist-deep powder, lapping through the Davos woods, with high-fives being thrown willy nilly after each run. An epic day of freeriding was enjoyed by all competitors, team managers and organizers who turned up to the 10-year anniversay of the O'Neill Evolution.
 
Then it got down to serious business, despite the testing conditions, and the show went on. As the snow bucketed down, the riders threw down in the semis. An almost perfect first run from defending champion Seb Toots (CAN) including a double cork 1080 mute to cab 270 on the wall ride would have been enough to claim the run of the day were it not for his legs inexplicably letting him down on landing. Meanwhile, solid first runs from Mark McMorris (CAN), and Charles Reid (CAN) put them into solid top 5 territory, while Staale Sandbech (NOR) stormed into the lead with a stomped frontside 1080 to frontside 270 to lipslide out. Current TTR Big Air leader, Roope Tonteri (FIN), posted solid points leaving him within striking distance of the top 10, while powder rookies Jamie Nicholls (GBR) and Seppe Smits (BEL) continued the form that has been turning heads.  With everything to play for in the second round, Werni Stock (AUT) powered into the top 5, while the shock of the night arrived when pre-event favorite, Seb Toots, seemed to hang up on the coping of the kicker. Fortunate to avoid injury, the incident nevertheless resulted in Toots bowing out of the contest. Christian ‘Hitch’ Haller (SUI) made it inside the 16-man cut, only for Eric Willett (USA) to edge him back out on the second to last run of the night with a frontside double cork 1080 mute to backside lipslide on the down rail, enough to propel himself into 4th.


The 16 Riders for the Men's Big Air Final are:
1. Nuttti Niemela
2. Petja Piiroinen
3. Gjermund Braaten
4. Seppe Smits
5. Roope Tinteri
6. Sven Thorgren
7. Charles Reid
8. Emil Ulsletten
9. Eric Beauchemin
10. Jamie Nicholls
11. Werner Stock
12. Brage Richenberg
13. Eric Willett
14. Antoine Truchon
15. Mark McMorris
16. Staale Sandbech

For the complete list of the Top 16 qualified riders in the Men’s Finals and for tomorrow’s schedule for the Women’s and Men’s Finals, and for all the details for the live webcast, check: http://www.oneill.com/evolution/















Live Webcast schedule - Saturday January 7th
10:45 - 12:15 Women Semi Feminal
12:45 - 13:30 Women Final
17:20 - 18:50 Men FInal

Catch all the action and finals of the O'Neill Evolution right HERE!

oneill.com/evolution