The Swatch TTR 3-Star Quiksilver Snow Jam took place this past weekend in Pec pod Snezkou, Czech Republic. Riders stomped big tricks all weekend on the slopestyle setup, but it was Teo Konttinen from Finland who would take home the 3-Star Title, 550 TTR Ranking points and the largest portion of the 12,000 Euro prize purse. 2nd place went to Matti Kinnunen, also from Finland, and local hero and organiser of this event Martin Cernik rounded out the Top 3.
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Friday’s qualifications were greeted by snowfall that began the night before, pumping everyone up for the first day of qualifications. Unfortunately, some mild weather and slushy snow made it difficult for the shapers to construct a pristine Kicker, but the riders didn’t seem to mind and still threw down some epic 10s and plenty of 7s during the qualification heats.
Saturday was a picture-perfect day for competition providing riders and spectators with blue-bird skies and comfortable temperatures. The Finnish riders took their super smooth style all the way through to the finals resulting in two Finnish riders in the Top 2 spots.
Teo Konttinen found himself atop the podium after stomping his incredibly clean FS 10 and Matti Kinnunen had to settle for second place after a slightly rough landing on his Cab 10 – a trick that might have given him the title had he landed cleanly. Crowd favourite Martin Cernik took spot number 3, lighting up the spectators with a huge Cab 9 and now sits at TTR World No. 106.
In the evening, organisers held a best trick contest for the leading 20 riders of the Quiksilver Snow Jam, granting the best tricks with 50 Euros cash. All the riders were stoked to earn some extra money for the after-party. The next day the rain fell, thankfully after the competition had ended. Martin Cernik was “stoked that the competition went so well and super happy that it wasn’t raining earlier.”
With a hard-hitting weekend of 3 and 5-Star events now over, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour focuses all its attention on the 6-Star Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships in Stratton Vermont, USA. It’s in Stratton where riders continue their fight for the TTR Tour Championship title and a high spot in the rankings in order to claim a piece of the $250,000 end-of-season prize purse.
Top Ten Results for the Quiksilver Snow Jam
1 Teo Konttinen (FIN)
2 Matti Kinnunen (FIN)
3 Martin Cernik (CZE)
4 Marc Swoboda (AUT)
5 Jan Zajic (CZE)
6 Jesse Rontti (FIN)
7 Matej Novak (CZE)
8 Tuomas Alapieti (FIN)
9 Ville Paumola (FIN)
10 Matej Matys (SVK)