We’re still coming back to orbit after another mind-blowing week at the 11th edition of the Audi Nines presented by Falken. A truly remarkable feet of park building engineering and of course, a selection of some of the world’s most talented and fearless snowboarders. Even standing on the knuckle of those hits is enough to induce an episode of vertigo, let alone hucking a double laid out front flip off the mega launch ramp over a 30 metre gap. Sebbe de Buck, we salute you.
After a week of riding the colossal course the riders were ready to put it all on the line for Saturday’s Big Air contest and the sun Gods shone down upon us in all their glory, much to the delight of the crowd of several thousand up at Sölden’s Tiefenbach Glacier.
Despite the final day having a contest element to it, it felt much more like a jam session where riders fed off each other’s energy to put down some insane tricks. Japan’s own Yuka Fujimori clinched the victory for the women with a beautiful frontside double 900 and backside 900 Indy. In the men’s category the Norwegian machine, Mons Røisland took home the gold with a switch back 1620, front triple 1440 and switch back 540 for his style trick.
Other highlights include Sven Thorgren’s triple back rodeo (in our Method hoodie no less), Sebbe de Buck’s nerves of steel boosting the launch ramp all week when most riders wouldn’t dare touch it, and our boy Rene Renekangas with his signature style and playful attitude in such an intimidating set-up. Congratulations to all the riders who attended the event and put it all on the line so we could sit back and enjoy the show.
Results:
Men’s Big Air:
1. Mons Røisland (NOR)
2. Sven Thorgren (SWE)
3. Clemens Millauer (AUT)
Women’s Big Air:
1. Yuka Fujimori (JPN)
2. Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN)
3. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN)
Rulers of the Week:
Sebbe de Buck
Laurie Blouin
Best Style:
Sebbe de Buck
Yuka Fujimori
A word from the winners:
“The highlight of the week has probably been watching Sebbe de Buck going off the Launch Ramp. He’s been doing stuff that you shouldn’t be able to do off of the big Launch Ramp. He’s been doing 1080s frontside and backside, double front flips... it’s crazy, people don’t even want to hit that thing, and he just killed it as if it were a normal jump.” - Mons Røisland.
“The highlight for me was the second day. I came for the shoot, the weather was awesome, and we had a really good session.” - Yuka Fujimori.
For now enjoy our exclusive photo recap from the event and stay tuned for the recap video.
Photos by: Will Radula-Scott & Theo Acworth.
Words by: Tom Shapiro.