Riders, media and spectators were greeted with another sunny and beautiful day here in LAAX and a perfectly shaped Slopestyle course for the big finals today. Enni Rukajärvi (FIN) and Max Parrot (CAN) are taking home the titles as well as the biggest portion of the prize-money cheque.

LAAX proved once again that they deserve to be the favourite resort of many riders with an innovative setup and a course they truly had fun on. 500 meters long, the course consisting of six features had to be mastered by the six female and 12 male finalists.

The ladies final was truly impressive with all riders showing unbelievable technical runs. Enni Rukajärvi (FIN), who won the Burton European Open here in LAAX in 2010, is finally back on top of the podium with her 2nd run which earned her 84,83 points. She started her top run with a Boardslide Pretzel Out on the rail, a Switch Backside 180 Mute over the roller, continuing with a Frontside 7 Tailgrab, a Backside 5 Stale and a Cab 7 Stale on the kicker line before hitting the final jib feature. Enni said this: “It feels so good to be back on top of the podium after 2010. My career started here back then and I always love to return to LAAX.” Jamie Anderson (USA), Olympic Gold Medalist and multiple winner here in LAAX came in 2^nd and current World Cup leader Austrian Anna Gasser in third place.

The men’s final was absolutely in the hands of the Canadian riders. Like last year the podium is completely under the Canadian flag with Max Parrot throwing down the best run of today and a highest score of 89 points. He started his run with 50/50 to Backlip on the rail, a Backside Rodeo 900 over the roller, followed by a Cab Double 12 Mute, a Frontside Triple 1440 and a Backside Triple 16 Mute on the kicker line with a great finish on the jib feature.

Max had this to say about his victory: “The riders were killing it today. It means so much to me be on top of the podium. Conditions were perfect and I am happy I could land my Backside triple!” Fellow countryman Mark McMorris came in 2^nd with 88,96 points and Tyler Nicholson in 3^rd with 85.51 points. Mark McMorris said: “I am so stoked I could do my run. Laax is such a good place, I come back next year for sure. We (Canadians) are such a good team at the moment!”

Complete results are attached or available here:

http://open.laax.com/en/startlist-results/

The LAAX OPEN 2017 ends tomorrow with the Halfpipe Finals starting at 1 pm. Don’t miss the live webcast on www.laax.com, beginning at 1:45 pm.