The 9th edition of the 4Star Poney Session took place with perfect spring conditions at the St Lary snow park in the French Pyrénnées on the 19th to the 22nd of March 2011. The winner, a Pyrénnées local and well established French rider, Mathieu Crepel, took home a big share of the $20,000 USD prize purse, as well as, 500 Swatch TTR Tour ranking points.
Mathieu has many merits in his name, one of the most significant of these, the first ever TTR Tour Champion Title, which he claimed in 2005/06. On the podium at the Poney Session slopestyle competition was also Sweden’s Isak Björnström with a second place, and in third was French Jean Jacques (JJ) Roux.
The format of the event was a fun jam session and the final saw ten riders take two runs, with hundreds of people cheering on in the sunny and slushy spring-time conditions. Mathieu Crepel took the victory in the freshly upgraded 4Star Poney Session. It was a treat for the spectators to see him competing in his home region, since he has taken a step back from the competitive snowboarding circuit, focusing on riding powder in the recent years. He was stoked after the event saying, “It was awesome as usual. I had a perfect day with my good friends and the park was amazing! I rode every line of the slope, I tried new tricks and I landed a Cab Double Under, in the Perfect Jump. I'm stoked to finally get the Pony Title! This event really is worth it's 4 TTR stars and I'll be there for sure for the 10th anniversary next year! "
Mathieu’s winning run included a half cab boardslide 270 out on the pole jam, a switch back 900 on the big air, a sweet frontside 1080. Out of the many Swedish riders competing, it was Isak Björnström who grabbed the second place leaving JJ Roux (FRA) in third. This season has been a good one for Isak, as he has been competing at other European 4Star events, and getting up on the podium at each and every one of them. He took a first place at the 4Star Sony Ericsson Snowboard Fest in Slovakia and a second place at the 4Star Engadinsnow in Switzerland. With his second place at the Pony Session he moved up considerably in the Swatch TTR Tour Ranking.
Even though the TTR Tour Champions have been crowned, there are several 1-4Star events coming up on the TTR Tour, where riders like Isak still have the opportunity to collect results in order to determine their Season-End Bonus Points, which will be carried over to the 2011/12 season.
RESULTS
1 Crepel Mathieu FRA
2 Bjornstrom Isak SWE
3 Roux JJ FRA
4 Askmyr Niklas SWE
5 Ohlson Kalle SWE
6 Krivec Alijosa SLO
7 Larson Tobias SWE
8 Tevelle Maxence FR
9 Delphino Thomas FR
10 Landmark Philip SWE
11 Rue Pierre FRA
12 Tainon Bertrand FRA
13 Delerue Victor FRA
14 Vulin Bryniid FRA
15 Livet David FRA
Best Tricks:
Big air Salomon
1 Bjornstrom Isak SWE
2 Landmark Philip SWE
3 Krivec Alijosa SLO
4 Askmir Niklas SWE
5 Larson Niklas SWE
Pole Jam Dakine
1 Bjornstrom Isak SWE
2 Vulin Brynild FRA
3 Askmyr Nyklas SWE
4 Marechal Ugo FRA
5 Tevelle Maxence FRA
Set de marches Burn
1 Baserba Adan FRA
2 Remon Robin FRA
3 Delerue Victor FRA
4 Rue Pierre FRA
5 Multhaup Appleton Milu NZ