Although some poor weather conditions took their toll on the park, riders still came out in force to showcase their freestyle skills at the Swatch TTR 3-Star Austrian Masters in Kuehtai.

For the second year in a row, local Austrian riders Julia Baumgartner and Patrik Huber blew the competition away to take the top podium spots at the NASA Austria Cup Tour finals of 2008.

Unfortunately, the weather conditions became unbearable by the end of the week, which resulted in organizers canceling the final and taking just the qualifications into account. Julia Baumgartner impressed the judges with huge tricks at incredible heights to earn her the Austrian Master of Slopestyle 2008 crown and a spot at No.11 on the Swatch TTR World rankings. Conny Bleicher form Germany finished 2nd in Kuehtai to boost her to TTR World No.17, and Aline Bock, also from Germany, finished third to secure her spot in the TTR Top 70.

Patrik Huber, who claimed the men’s Austrian Master Title of 2008, was going all out from the very beginning, securing a top spot in the qualifications that eventually resulted in his title win. Huber is now in the Swatch TTR Top 60 with his first TTR result of the season. Lars Österle (GER) and Sani Alibabic (AUT) both displayed equally impressive technical tricks placing them both in second position.

The second format of the Austrian Masters 08, the halfpipe competition, was at first postponed to Sunday due to Saturday’s strong winds and was then fully cancelled due to increasingly bad weather.

Log onto the TTR website for updated news as well as videos, blogs, and ranking changes. Coming up next is the Swatch TTR 5-Star Ästhetiker Waengl Taengl taking place in Mayrhofen, Austria where riders continue the chase for TTR Ranking Points.

Women
1. Julia Baumgartner AUT
2. Conny Bleicher GER
3. Aline Bock GER
4. Sandy Gecek AUT
5. Diana Sadlowski POL
6. Silvi Schlereth GER
7. Silke Unseld GER
8. Nicole Sommerauer AUT/USA
8. Haller Maike GER

Men
1. Patrick Huber AUT
2. Lars Oesterle GER
2. Sani Alibabic AUT
4. Samuel Rudigier AUT
5. Rudi Kröll AUT
6. Hubert Fill AUT
7. Thomas Hörhager AUT
8. Michael Breuer AUT
9. Stefan Fankhauser AUT
10. Wolfgang Wanner AUT