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The 1st snowboard world cup was held in Saas-Fee Switzerland
this week with a very strong turn out! All the nations sent the
best riders to compete in the double world cup event . With the
World Championships just around the corner it was heavily
contested with 3 heats of 21 guys and two heats of 19 women.
This large field made it difficult to qualify for the finals
with only 4 men from each heat and 3 women from each heat making
the final cut..
Australia was represented well by the OWIA athletes Holly
Crawford, Andrew Burton and New comer to the team Ben Johnson.
Holly opened up her season with a very strong performance
qualifying in 1st place to make the finals and finishing up in
5th place. Holly rode strong and put down some very smooth runs
and stylish airs to compete with some of the World’s top women.
Olympic Silver Medalist Gretchen Behlier from the USA was the
standout of the day taking the win with some very progressive
snowboarding.
Andrew Burton also putting together a top performance in his
qualifying rounds only to miss the finals by 2 spots. Andrew
being Australians top halfpipe rider is putting together a very
unique run with a backside ally oop rodeo. This trick is one of
the hardest to land and carry speed out of but is very
progressive and pushing the sport of halfpipe riding. Andrew is
looking forward to getting into some training this week in
Colorado where he will prepare to mix it with some of the
world’s best riders at the US Chevy Grand Prix.
A debut performance for Ben Johnson at the saas-fee world cup
was a good start to the season. Ben coming from the NSWIS team
last season has progressed his riding to World cup level. Ben
put together a solid run in his qualifying with back to back 7s
and a backside 540. Ben will now take this 1st event experience
into a solid week of training in Colorado before the 1st US
Grand Prix in Breckenridge.
The team will leave Europe today heading for Mammoth and Copper
Mountain to prepare for the Grand Prix. The Grand prix is
undoubtedly the hardest halfpipe event around to date, this will
see some of the top US riders competing for the huge $10,000US
purse for 1st place. The likes of Shaun White and Danny Kass
will be some of the top names to watch out for next week.
For now that is all from the OWIA Team, we will check back in
next week for updates!!!
Results Saas-Fee
| Holly |
5th |
| BJ |
46th |
| Andrew |
55th |
Courtesy Ben Wordsworth – OWI Snowboard Head Coach
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