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Ipod wins the O’Neill Evolution Halfpipe

Ipod throws down the double for his first place – Photo: O’Neill

Iouri “Ipod” Podlatchikov threw down in front of his home crowd on Friday to take first place at the O’Neill Evolution Halfpipe contest. The comp, which enjoys 6-Star TTR status, is Ipod’s first major win on the world tour.

The talented young Swiss-Russian rider put in an impressive performance to beat a talent-packed field, leaving Markus Keller to claim second place and Peetu Piiroinen to take third. Podlatchikov’s winning run consisted of a 540, backside 9, frontside 10 and cab double cork 1080. Peetu also threw a double into his run, as both riders set out their stalls before next month’s Olympics in Vancouver.

Markus Keller on his way to a second place finish – Photo: O\’Neill

Second place Keller, despite not having the buzz-trick of the season in his arsenal, went bigger than anyone else out of the pipe, winning the Swatch Biggest Air prize. Meanwhile, the largely unknown Finn Ilkka-Eemeli Laari, showed he had the skills and the style to compete with the big boys, throwing down some of the biggest double corks of the day.

The other success story of the comp was the UK’s Dan Wakeham, who finished a very respectable 16th, beating the likes of current TTR World Leader Mark Grilc. Despite retiring from world Cup halfpipe comps, Wakeham has had a good season so far, and went into the Davos comp on form, finishing 4th in his heat on the Thursday. Unfortunately, Dan had a few problems with his 10s on the day of the finals, saying “I caught the coping on my 1st run of finals. Hit my ass and squashed my bollocks. I really struggled to come back after that.”

Check out all the best bits of Friday’s action below.

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