Fresh back from laying out backflips at the Beijing Air and Style, Halldor Helgason has let slip that he’s signed for Nike 6.0 outerwear, in what must surely be one of the biggest snowboard deals of recent times. Following the massive success of the helgasons.com blog, which has seen Halldor and his brother Eiki’s profile skyrocket (not to mention the sheer riding talent of the dude, with banger video parts, perfect scores at the X Games and such like) Halldor has been a man in demand. As we reported in the magazine this month, the DC rider was even courted by Burton Snowboards, who recently gave him the full sales pitch at their Vermont HQ.

But it is Nike 6.0 who have beaten off the competition for his signature. We’ve yet to receive any more details, but this latest video – posted quietly on the Helgasons blog with a cunningly disguised title – proves it’s official. Nike 6.0 now have a formidable team of young rippers at their disposal, including TTR champ Peetu Piiroinen, Gjermund Braaten, Kevin Backstrom and of course the UK’s own Jamie Nicholls. Meanwhile Nike Snowboarding (not to be confused) are also assembling some equally incredible senior talent for their own boots-based programme, such as Gigi Rüf, Nicolas Müller and Danny Kass. Mark our words, the Nike effect is going to be massive.

So, you may be wondering, what boards will Halldor be riding? Will he stay on DC? This has yet to be made clear, though rumour has it he and his brother (currently on Rome snowboards) are keen to be on the same team, so one way or another there may be further changes ahead. Watch this space.