LAAX, Switzerland (Jan. 13, 2008) - Fifteen-year-old Canadian rider Sébastien Toutant, who also won the BEO junior slopestyle event this weekend, had the highest score in today's men's slopestyle qualifications. 2007 Air & Style Rookie Session winner Tim Humphreys qualified in second place. And 16-year-old Zak Stone, who won the BEO junior halfpipe competition this weekend, just made it into the semifinals, taking 10th in today's qualification runs.
After nearly a meter of snow fell in Laax yesterday, the clouds parted just 15 minutes before the start of today's men's slopestyle pre-qualification runs, unveiling a perfectly groomed course and untouched powder on the surrounding slopes. The bluebird skies were ideal for a busy competition day, in which the judges had to score a total of 330 runs with 125 men getting two runs each in the pre-qualifications and 40 men completing two runs each in the qualification rounds.
Several of the young junior riders beat out the more seasoned pros and made it through the pre-qualification rounds, including thirteen-year-old Scott James (AUS), who won both the BEO slopestyle and halfpipe youth competitions this past weekend. In the end, only 10 riders from today's qualification competition could advance to Tuesday's semifinals competition where they will take on world-renowned slopestyle stars like Shaun White (USA), Danny Davis (USA), Mason Aguirre (USA), Heikki Sorsa (FIN), Antti Autti (FIN) and Marko Grilc (SLO), among others.
The Burton European Open will continue tomorrow with men's and women's halfpipe pre-qualification and qualification competitions. Be sure to check out the BEO website at www.opensnowboarding.com.
Men's Slopestyle Qualification Results
1. Sébastien Toutant CAN O'NEILL
2. Tim Humphreys USA FLOW
3. Joel Lahti FIN FTWO
4. Jaakko Ruha FIN KISSMARK
5. Roger Kleivdal NOR K2
6. Tore Holvik NOR BATALEON
7. Jason Dubois CAN O'NEILL
8. Ville Uotila FIN ATOMIC
9. Kim Andre Eliassen NOR K2
10. Zak Stone CAN VOLCOM
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.
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