Replying to OFFICIAL RESULTS X-GAMES QUALIFIER

SLOPESTYLE - X Games qualifying event.
Friday December 12, 2003 SAAS FEE, SUISSE

This morning a strong wind was blowing at the top of the Allalin Glacier
and
the organisers had to work hard to put back all the banners that had blown
away during the night. Therefore the slopestyle couldn't start at the set
time of 10.30am but after an hour spent reshaping the course, the contest
finally began.

Due to the lack of snow at the beginning of this winter season, it was
difficult to build a real slopestyle course with a succession of
handrails, table tops and quarter pipe in one go? The shaper, Nicolas
Marduel had to compromise and split the course into two ? a run of rails
and
one of kickers. The riders had two runs on each course, with the combined
score of the best run on each counting.

The handrails course was made of 5 rails: 3 flat rails, 1 rainbow and 1
down
kink. The kicker course comprised a big table followed by yesterday's big
air kicker and a large quarter pipe to finish the course. In spite of the
wind, the 30 male and 6 female international riders skied their runs with
guts and determination.

After the rails, the French Laurent Favre was comfortably leading more
than 4 points ahead of Canadian Phil Belanger, with the Swede Jon Olsson in
third.

On the kicker course, the young German rookie Nico Zazeck won with an
inside
mute 720 followed by an enormous switch 900 off axis and a cork 900 on the
quarter pipe. His performance scored him an impressive comeback from the
14th to the 4th position.

Laurent Favre impressed everybody with a switch tail butter 540 followed by
a huge cab 900 and a flatspin on the quarter pipe, amazing! This
performance
combined with his lead on the rails secured him not only the first place
but
also qualified him for the winter X Games 2004. What a happy Lolo Favre!

Second and third places were claimed by the Scandanavian posse ? Jon Olsson
and Lars Veen. Jon once again put on an impressive display of style and
flair, with a switch 720 and 900, and Lars earned third place with a switch
540 followed by a switch bio 1080 tail grab.

For the girls, the young Canadian Sarah Burke showed a super elegant style,
treating the metal rails to a touch of feminine grace. Her
performance earned her first place in front of the ever present Norwegian
Grete Eliassen. Rip Curl rider and halfpipe champion Virginie Faivre came
third.

The competition finishes tomorrow with the new event, the Musketeers
Challenge.

Results Slopestyle

Men

1. Laurent Favre FRA (Scott)
2. Jon Olsson SWE (Head)
3. Lars Veen NOR (Völkl)
4. Nico Zazeck GER (Völkl)
5. Chris Biollo CAN (K2)
6. Henrik Winstedt SWE (Rossignol)
7. Steele Spence USA (Rip Curl)
8. Jean-Laurent Ratchel FRA (Dynastar)
9. Aurélien Fournier FRA (Salomon)
10. Vincent Estorc FRA (Salomon)

Women

1. Sarah Burke CAN (Salomon)
2. Grete Eliassen NOR (Armada)
3. Virginie Faivre CH (Rip Curl)
4. Jessica Cumming USA (K2)



Check all the latest info and news on http://www.freeski.org
High res images to download
http://www.europe.ripcurl.com/freeski03/hdgallery.asp

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When skiers do their thing in the parks, powder and on the rails,
mountains become a vast play-ground.