New tour leaders after slopestyle at Swatch TTR season opener in New Zealand
Saturday 15 August 2009, 9:37AM
By Swatch TTR
560 views
August 14th, 2009: Pristine blue skies and tough snow conditions marked the completion of the first Slopestyle competition of the 09/10 Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour at today’s 5Star Burton New Zealand Open. US rider and former 07/08 Swatch TTR World Champion Jamie Anderson along with Canadian shredder Sebastien Toutant managed to blow by a dense field of seasoned pros to claim their Slopestyle titles, 850 ranking points and spots on top of the TTR leader boards going into tomorrow’s Halfpipe competition.
The semi-finals began early in the day with 16 women vying for 8 spots in the finals. New Zealand local Shelly Gotlieb set herself up well in the semis, qualifying first ahead of favourites such as Jamie Anderson, Sarka Pancochova (CZE) and Janna Weatherby (USA). Gotlieb certainly seemed the one to beat, however, once finals hit, Gotlieb couldn’t keep up with Anderson’s consistency and flow.
Jamie Anderson’s win is an echo of her Southern hemisphere dominance in the 08/09 season and Jamie was definitely happy with her result, “I always love coming to the southern hemisphere, definitely good to get a head start on the season. I’m going to do pipe tomorrow and see how everything goes.”
Second place went to Janna Weatherby who found it difficult to collect her tricks into one solid run until her final attempt. Gotlieb was still able to secure third place. Silvia Mittermüller (GER) who finished in 5th place moves into world no. 2 on the TTR rankings followed by Lisa Wiik (NOR) in world no. 3 and Sarka Pancochova in world no. 4.
In the men’s competition, Sebastian Toutant, who won his first Burton Global Open Series title in New Zealand, posted his best score with his first run of the finals. Torstein Horgmo of Norway who often places high in Southern Hemisphere events, had difficulties with his first two runs, but came closest to knocking down Toutant finishing second with his final run. US rider Eric Willet placed 3rd. Horgmo moves into world no. 3 on the Swatch TTR rankings followed by Tim Humphreys (USA) in world no. 4, and Charles Reid (CAN) in world no. 5.
With the Slopestyle format now complete, the Swatch TTR 5Star Burton New Zealand Open continues the action with tomorrow’s Halfpipe competition. Tomorrow’s contest guarantees some big ranking changes, possible new TTR Tour leaders and the first major Halfpipe event of 09/10.
For tomorrow’s live webcast head on over to go211.com or ttrworldtour.com, where you’ll also find full ranking lists, and the latests news, blogs and video highlights from New Zealand.
Top 10 Season 09/10 TTR World Snowboard Rankings as of 14.08.2009:
|
Rank |
Name |
Nation |
Results |
Points |
|
1 |
Toutant, Sebastien |
CAN |
2 |
263.79 |
|
2 |
Guldemond, Chas |
USA |
2 |
249.14 |
|
3 |
Horgmo, Torstein |
NOR |
2 |
245.23 |
|
4 |
Humphreys, Tim |
USA |
2 |
225.46 |
|
5 |
Reid, Charles |
CAN |
2 |
223.67 |
|
6 |
Aguirre, Mason |
USA |
2 |
218.77 |
|
7 |
Longo, Arthur |
FRA |
2 |
205.27 |
|
8 |
Willett, Eric |
USA |
2 |
201.67 |
|
9 |
Holvik, Tore |
NOR |
2 |
201.03 |
|
10 |
Smits, Seppe |
BEL |
2 |
198.2 |
WOMEN
|
1 |
Anderson, Jamie |
USA |
2 |
278.56 |
|
2 |
Mittermueller, Silvia |
GER |
2 |
250.67 |
|
3 |
Wiik, Lisa |
NOR |
2 |
246.41 |
|
4 |
Pancochova, Sarka |
CZE |
2 |
232.32 |
|
5 |
Maas, Cheryl |
NED |
2 |
222.63 |
|
6 |
Sladics, Chanelle |
USA |
2 |
220.87 |
|
7 |
Candrian, Sina |
SUI |
2 |
216.83 |
|
8 |
O´Brien, Spencer |
CAN |
2 |
208.68 |
|
9 |
Davis-Meehan, Michaela |
AUS |
5 |
206.66 |
|
10 |
Karlinski, Jordie |
USA |
2 |
205.12 |
ABOUT SWATCH TTR:
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission “to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles”. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest (1000 points). Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the Swatch TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider based on an average of their best six results of the season (5+1 system) is crowned Swatch TTR World Snowboard Champion. For more information visit www.ttrworldtour.com