Finnish freestyle master Eero Ettala has claimed first place at the prestigious Freestyle.ch big air contest in Zurich.

Eero beat a stellar field of riders including Christian Haller and Swiss-Russian Iouri Podlatchikov to take first place, with a winning combination of switch rodeo back sevens and a beautiful double corked backside 10.

He was joined at the final stage of the competition – the super-final – by Christian Haller and the 17-year-old French Canadian wunderkind Sebastien Toutant. Toutant took second place by stomping his signature Tootsie Roll, a double corked 10, while Haller took third.

Check out the videos of the first day of qualification here. Check out Elias Elhardt’s backside 1080 double cork near the end (he’s the one on the Rossignol board). He emailed us later to say he’d only learnt it the day before!

http://mpora.com/videos/Z2aX0X2Lu
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Here’s the video of the second day of qualification. Keep an eye out for the “style” tricks that riders were expected to throw in so that it’s not all about spinning to win. Iouri Podlatchikov’s styled out front three is a perfect example. Eero casually throws down a double back-flip.

http://mpora.com/videos/pRUsfgwsE
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And here’s the footage of the super-final. This is where the men were really separated from the boys, though Seb Toots, who’s still only 17, somehow managed to sneak through! It might have something to do with his signature backside 1080 double cork, which he stomps so cleanly here it’s unreal. In the end though, Eero took it by a couple of points, by going bigger and charging harder than Toots and Haller. Check it out.

http://mpora.com/videos/1inn0RmIZ
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