After the men’s final competition was postponed on Saturday due to bad visibility, the world’s best freeriders once again took on the legendary 600-meter north face of the Bec des Rosses. In perfect conditions, the 24 male riders put on the most spectacular show with the fastest and most committed edition of the 15 years of the “Xtreme”. Several first descents were opened on the face. With this high level, the battle for first was extremely tight. The breathtaking performance of Frenchman Xavier de Le Rue earned him the highest step on the podium.

The win in Verbier gave Xavier enough points to secure the top position in the men’s snowboard ranking 2010. For the third consecutive year, the unbeatable Frenchman was crowned World Champion. Austrian Mitch Toelderer is vice-Freeride World Champion 2010, and Matt Annetts (USA) took the third step of the podium.

Xavier was awarded a Nissan Qashqai for his World Championship title, and the winners today went home with $10,000 each from the total prize purse of $206,200 for the Freeride World Tour 2010.

Results Nissan Xtreme by Swatch, Verbier:

Men Snowboard:

1. Xavier DE LE RUE - FRA

2. Cyril NERI - SUI

3. Mitch TOELDERER - AUT

Head Judge Snowboard - Berti Denervaud (SUI)

On Xavier de Le Rue’s (FRA) winning run:

“Xavier’s run was the fastest of the day. He took an original line and jumped a huge cliff that has never been jumped before in the 15 years of the Xtreme! The jump was at least 10 metres in one of the steepest and most committed parts of the face. He negotiated it perfectly, and managed slough and speed impressively.”

On the overall performance of the 11 competing snowboarders:

“It was a really tight field and all the riders were in great control, executing solid, original runs, with many new lines and no major tumbles. It is one of the rare contests where no one was scored below average”

Xavier de Le Rue (FRA) – Triple Freeride World Champion Snowboard/ 1st Nissan Xtreme by Swatch

“I was here 3-4 weeks ago to inspect this line. When I came back last weekend I saw that it was in good condition. I knew it would be hairy but I felt confident. For me the most interesting aspect of the Freeride World Tour is that we inspect the faces really thoroughly. For days I concentrate on just one thing: my line, which never happens when filming or freeriding for myself. I manage to ride things I would never do otherwise. Everything in my run was meticulously planned – I knew there would be a lot of slough (surface snow sliding) as it was really steep so I needed a lot of speed and take the jump straight in the falline.”