LAAX, Switzerland (Jan. 11, 2008) - Fifteen-year-old Sébastien Toutant from Canada and 14-year-old Alicia Bonnaud from France won today's junior slopestyle competition, the first event at the 9th annual Burton European Open taking place this week in Laax, Switzerland. In the younger kids division, 13-year-old Scott James from Australia and 13-year-old Emma Claire Bernard from France took the top spots on the podium.
Sébastien had this to say after the awards ceremony, "I'm really stoked about getting first place, the course and the level of the riding in the competition. I look forward to competing in the men's slopestyle competition later this week where I hope to make it far enough to compete alongside snowboard champions like Shaun White. Hopefully, I can pick up a few new tricks from the big pros."
In the boys junior competition, Sébastien stomped a backside lipslide on the first rail, a frontside 180 over the gap to set up for a fakie rock on the mini ramp, a 270 into a front board 270 out on the box, a backside air on the QP, and then a backside 7 mute grab, frontside 5 indy, and Cab 7 through the jumps for his winning run. Canadian Zak Stone got second followed by Finnish rider Petia Piiroinen, younger brother of 2-times BEO Champion Peetu Piiroinen, on 3rd place.
In the girls junior division, Alicia took the lead with a front board to boardslide, a nose grab over the gap, rock to fakie on the mini ramp, 50-50 on the box, backside air on the QP and a nosegrab, frontside 3 and a mute grab over the 3 jumps. Silie Norendal and Kari Opsal completed the podium with 2nd and 3 rank with solid runs.
Over 100 riders 16 years old and younger competed for top honors at Europe's premier snowboard event. The youngest rider competing today, Seamus O'Connor from USA, is just ten-years-old and took second place in his age division. Fourteen European nations as well as Japan, Canada, USA and Australia were represented in today's competition, where the younger kids charged hard - many attempting adult-sized tricks like backside rodeos, 900s and back-to-back 720s.
Tomorrow, the young competitors will take center stage again for the junior and youth halfpipe finals where they will warm up the pipe for many of the world's best pro riders who will be arriving early next week for the main halfpipe and slopestyle finals at the BEO.
Slopestyle Boys Juniors Results
Name Nationality Sponsor Points
1. Sébastien Toutant CAN O'Neil 74.5
2. Zak Stone CAN Volcom 71.8
3. Petja Piiroinen FIN Flow 70.5
4. Ben Watts USA Burton 68.3
5. Fredrik Wessel NOR Quiksilver 62.8
Slopestyle Girls Juniors Results
1. Alicia Bonnaud FRA Ride 48.0
2. Silje Norendal NOR Roxy 46.2
3. Kari Opsal Maeland NOR Protest 40.8
4. Mirabelle Thovex FRA --------- 36.5
5. Aimee Fuller GBR Roxy 32.5
Slopestyle Boys Youth Results
1. Scott James AUS Quiksilver 56.0
2. Seamus O'Connor USA Burton 41.8
3. Tim-Kevin Ravnjak SLO Burton 41.7
Slopestyle Girls Youth Results
1. Emma Claire Bernard FRA Roxy 26.5
2. Katarzyna Rusin POL ------- 22.2
3. Chloe Trespeuch FRA ------- 17.0
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 www.opensnowboarding.com.
About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
The 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 www.ttrworldtour.com . -photos by Laemmerhirt