The Burton European Open, held in Laax, was the final event to go down in a quite-frankly exhausting weekend of competition schedules. Being a TTR event, it got rather less coverage than the Quebec World Cup and Mammoth Grand Prix, crucial for last minute Olympic qualifications; but the level of riding on show was still incredible.
Saturday saw the slopestyle finals, and with the event’s debut at Sochi 2014 just around the corner we were left in no doubt that the Norwegians are gonna make a huge impression on the world stage next month with Mons Røisland, Aleks Ostreng and Brage Richenburg blocking out the podium in style.
Japan’s latest underage talent Miyabi Onitsuka came an impressive second in the women’s event, whilst Laax locals Elena Könz and Isabel Derungs came third and first respectively, both stoked to put down top level runs in their home park.
In the pipe, Shaun White rival Iouri Podladtchikov dominated from his first of three runs with some ridiculously tech runs, pumping from lip to lip on pretty much every hit. When left with a victory lap at the he choose to give a demonstration of super-massive straight airs and possibly a contender for method of the year, follow this link and skip to 3:52:30 to have a gander.
Markus Keller is of note for vowing not to spin over a seven through the whole of the finals. Although it was super stylish to watch, including a chicken wing back 7 for onlooking Nicolas Muller it unfortunately wasn’t enough to get him on the podium.
The women’s pipe saw another home advantage, with three Swiss riders; Carla Somaini, Verena Rohrer and Ursina Haller coming third to first respectively.
