The 2013 World Rookie Fest, has just wrapped up in Livigno with some impressive riding by under 18 year olds from all four corners of Europe. Despite the overcast, snowy conditions, riders were still charging in the finals and stomped an impressive array of tricks on the kickers.

In the female grom category, Talie Larochaix from France took the win while in the rookie category Valentina Barengo from Italy impressed the judges most, with spins off all three big kickers. The male groms were riding on another level with a backside 1260 double being stomped by Norwegian Marcus Kleveland (he’s 13 years old ffs!) and in the end the finals were between himself and teammate Isak Ulstein who ended up taking the win. The fantastically named Tit Stante from Slovenia rounded out the podium in third place.

Sending it the biggest in male rookie category was Norwegian Ole Christian Hagen who took home his second win, while Simon Bürki from Switzerland was hot on his tail in second place. And following his recent win at the Hotzone.TV Groms Open, our very own Rowan Coultas posted another great result amongst a tough field to round out the podium in bronze position. You can catch a few of the lofty hits from his run in the video above starting at the 2:11 mark – gotta love that underflip. Cheeea Rowan!

The World Rookie Tour has long been a pretty reliable indicator of who will grow to dominate the contest scene over the following few years (just look at how last year’s winner Sven Thorgren has exploded onto the scene) so these names are all ones to take note of. Rowan is currently sitting in second place and we hope he continues to kill it this season!