Replying to Rip Curl Competition Finished

The Rip Curl Comp in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, ended yesterday with Steele Spence winning the big air with his switch misty 1080! Final overall results were: 1st - Candide; 2nd - Jon Olsen; and 3rd - Steele. The rest of the list:

Thursday, December 12, 2002
USA RIP CURL TEAMRIDER STEEL SPENCE TAKES THE BIG AIR
The spectacular Big Air was the last out of the three different disciplines of the Rip Curl Freeski Event, finished in the snowpark of the Swiss resort of Saas Fee.

Like in previous days , the fairy tale like resort in the region of Valais, was gifted with perfect bluebird skies and low temperatures, allowing the snow to remain in excellent conditions.
The jump was in the shadow during the warm up and the first leg of the qualification and competitors increased the technical difficulty and size of their tricks as the morning went by and the sun illuminated the jump, heating their spirits.

Skiers raised each others motivation , as it usually happens in this kind of contests and the second round was more than hot. Rip Curl skier Steel Spence impressed the crowd pulling off a very technical and difficult trick: a Switch Misty 1080 that gave him the highest score. The spinning going off, Candide had to reach the standards and he was second after pulling off a sick Switch Cork 1080. Swedish skier from Are, Henrik Windstedt also pushed the limits with a huge Switch Rodeo 9 that set him on third position and made him a happy camper. His buddy Jon Olson pulled of the biggest spin of the whole comp : a massive Switch Cork 1260! Unfortunately he didn’t stick it. Australian Andreas Gloor was 4th after his big Cork 9 Tail.


The Big Air was the end of the Rip Curl Freeski Event and the scores were added to the previous for the overall ranking , deciding the best freeskiers of the event :
Candide Thovex was first, followed by Jon Olson and Steele Spence: the new blood of freeskiing, no limits. Fourth and Fifth overall were the two French Rip Curl riders Seb Lounis and Baptiste Collomb-Patton .
The prize giving ceremony, for both the Big Air and the overall ranking, took place right after the end of the contest at the base of the halfpipe. Winners of each discipline were awarded with 2,000€ each and Candide , the overall winner took home a good 5,000€.

The first big freeski event in Europe ended with complete success thanks to the flow of the competition, the epic conditions of the snow and terrain and the cool atmosphere.

The search goes on….

BIG AIR RESULT
1 Steel Spence 43,25
2 Candide Thovex 42,75
3 Henrik Winstedt 40,25
4 Andreas Gloor 40
5 Julien Lopez 39,5
6 Noto Misra 39,5
7 Iannick Brouillet 39
8 Jon Olson 38,25
9 Baptiste Collomb Patton 38
10 Armstrong Brock 36,25
11 Chris Miolane 35,75
12 Sébastien Lounis 35,5
13 Glenn Parsons 35,5
14 Mattias Wecsteen 35,25
15 Mickael Deschenaux 35
16 Arnaud Kugener 35
17 Raphael Aubry 34,5
18 Markus Kaiser 33,75
19 Tim Rieder 32,75
20 Andy Stoios 32,5
DNS JF Cusson 0
DNS Dimitri Charière 0
DNS Niclas Karlstom 0
DNS Joost Gloost 0
DNS Pierre Epargiliere 0
DNS Laurent Favre 0
DNS Julien Regnier 0
DNS Nick Draxl 0
DNS Arnaud Rougier 0

OVERALL RESULT
1 Candide Thovex FRA 82
2 Jon Olson SWE 68
3 Steel Spence USA 65
4 Sébastien Lounis FRA 57
5 Baptiste Collomb Patton FRA 56
6 Henrik Winstedt SWE 56
7 Iannick Brouillet CAN 56
8 Laurent Favre FRA 54
9 Julien Lopez FRA 50
10 Arnaud Kugener FRA 49
11 Mickael Deschenaux CH 48
12 Pierre Epargiliere FRA 47
13 Andreas Gloor AUS 46
14 Mattias Wecsteen FRA 41
15 Glenn Parsons UK 41
16 Noto Misra CH 40
17 Raphael Aubry CH 38
18 Dimitri Charière FRA 34
19 Markus Kaiser CH 33
20 Armstrong Brock AUS 32
21 Niclas Karlstom SWE 25
22 Nick Draxl AUT 23
23 Andy Stoios CAN 19
24 Arnaud Rougier FRA 18
25 Tim Rieder CH 18
26 Joost Gloost HOL 10
27 JF Cusson CAN 9
28 Julien Regnier FRA 7
29 Mathieu Azzolin FRA 0
30 Sebastian Garhammer GER 0