The new crop of WSF young talents fought to be crowned World Rookie Champion this weekend at the Swatch TTR 4Star Protest World Rookie Final in Ischgl, Austria. Roope Tonteri stomped his way to first place and got the title of Champion. Also on the line was a filming session with Pirate Movie Productions, one with Aesthetiker Crew and a photo-shooting with Onboard Europe giving young riders the opportunity to step on stage and earn international recognition. Tonteri was closely followed by Kevin Backstrom (SWE) in second place and Eskil Korneliussen (NOR) in third. Among the groms another scandic talent won: it was Sven Thorgren, 14 years old from Sweden. Michaela Davis-Meehan, the only Australian in the starting field, stood up to her female competitors and took home the win for the girls.
Roope Tonteri conquering the World Rookie Champion title
Due to unfortunate weather conditions on Friday, qualifications and finals were held together on Saturday in a three-runs format. As the best two runs counted, the riders had to show a variety of tricks increasing the intensity of the event and ensuring the onlookers witnessed some amazing feats.
Male Rookie Podium
The springtime sun shone brightly upon the slushy course as the rookies stepped it up in front of a large end of season crowd. The Ischgl snowpark consisted of jumps from 8m to 20m, boxes, rails, and a wall ride, providing countless opportunities for the riders to get their shred on and showcase creativity.
Male Grom Podium
“I am happy to be World Rookie Champion. The riding was good today and I am stoked that another Finnish rider is champion after Peetu Piiroinen won the TTR Tour this year.”, Tonteri said after he learned about his win. Tonteri, who showed a good performance at many other World Rookie Tour and TTR events this year, moves into World No. 105 in the Swatch TTR World Rankings.
Sven Thorgren resulted the best grom
Some of the nicest tricks of the day were thrown down by Darek Bergmann (CZE) who finished in fifth with a run including a Frontside 7 with super nice Crail Grab, by Kevin Backstrom with a Frontside 1080 followed by a Tailbonk to 360 Out on the RedBull Obstacle and by Austrian shred talent Luca Schranz who surprised everyone with some one-footed action on the kinkrail and the following kicker. These rookies are showing some real talent and pro boarding could well fill their savings accounts in the near future. Props also have to go out to Teddy Koo (JAP), who took out the 2Star North Face Korean Rookie Fest and finished in fourth position today. Throughout the contest the level of riding was on professional standards and everyone will be watching as these newcomers erupt onto the professional world of snowboarding in coming seasons.
With Ischgl the World Rookie Tour 2008.09 is over but the kickoff for next tour already announced: a Summer Rookie Fest will be held in Schnastal, Italy, from 27 june untill 3rd july 2009. More info will be avaible soon on www.worldsnowboardfederation.org
PROTEST WORLD ROOKIE FINALS – Results per Age Groups
ROOKIES
Rank bib Name Surname Nat
1 24 Roope Tonteri FIN (won Filming with Pirate Movie Production – Onboard Shooting – Protest Surf Camp)
2 6 Kevin Backstrom SWE (won Onboard Shooting – Protest Surf Camp)
3 3 Eskil Korneliussen NOR (won Onboard Shooting)
4 14 Teddy Koo JPN (won Onboard Shooting)
5 22 Darek Bergmann CZE (won Onboard Shooting – Protest Surf Camp for best trick)
6 9 Adrian Krainer AUT
7 8 Zebastian Landmark SWE
8 31 Aljosa Krivec SLO
9 13 Luca Schranz AUT
10 11 Mathias Weissenbacher AUT
11 5 Rudi Oesterhus NOR
12 27 Naccari Ruggero ITA
13 20 Nuutti Niemela FIN
14 21 Petr Horak CZE
15 29 Nicola Dioli ITA
16 16 Yannick Imboden SUI
17 2 Mauro Bisol ITA
18 19 Samuel Kasper SUI
19 25 Vesa Mäkäräinen FIN
20 28 Giorgio Ciancaleoni ITA
21 17 Lars Bachmann SUI
22 30 Filiberto Piller Cottner ITA
23 4 Mark Raper GBR
dns 1 Johannes Handle AUT
dns 10 Thomas Tramnitz AUT
dns 15 Stefan Reichmuth SUI
dns 26 Davide Beltracch SUI
ROOKIE GIRLS
Rank bib Name Surname Nat
1 41 Michaela Davis-Meehan AUS (won Protest Surf Camp)
2 42 Arianna Sittoni ITA
GROMS
Rank bib Name Surname Nat
1 50 Sven Thorgren SWE (won Onboard Shooting, filming with Aesthetiker, Goldet Ticket to every Rookie Fests 2010)
2 57 Martin Mikyska CZE
3 56 Leandro Eigensatz SUI
4 61 Tim-Kevin Ravnjak SLO
5 58 Ondrej Porkert CZE
6 51 Lewis Courtier-Jones GBR
7 60 GianMarco Maiocco ITA
8 52 Thomas Hunt GBR
9 54 Lucien Koch SUI
10 59 Daniel Porkert CZE
11 53 Roland Tschoder AUT
12 55 Yannick Hertmann SUI
GROM GIRLS
Rank bib Name Surname Nat
1 72 Maria Maiocco ITA (won Golden Ticket to every Rookie Fests 2010)
2 71 Diana Augustinova CZE
Official website: www.worldsnowboardfederation.org
Info and media: Marco Sampaoli, +39.340.3285569, marco@worldsnowboardfederation.org
ABOUT WORLD ROOKIE TOUR & WORLD ROOKIE RANK
Only the best rookies in the world will be granted access to the World Rookie Tour big final: the Swatch TTR 4Star “Protest World Rookie Finals” in Ischgl, Austria, from April 15 to April 19, 2009. Only the winners of the previous qualifiers will be able to go to Ischgl, together with the best athletes of the World Rookie Rank on April 5, and the wild cards that single nations give to their most promising rookies. The World Rookie Rank is a classification for under 18’s only and it is developed by the World Snowboard Federation (WSF) in collaboration with TTR. At the end of the World Rookie Tour, the final winner will be awarded with the title of World Rookie Champion. He will be offered a unique opportunity to enter the world of professional snowboarding: an invitation to a Video Shooting with the Pirate Movie Production, a Photo Shooting by On Board Europe and an invitation to an event which is still kept secret are awaiting the winner.
ABOUT THE WORLD SNOWBOARD FEDERATION
WSF is the only international organisation working uniquely to develop and support snowboard at all levels, including competitions and education, disable and adaptive snowboarding, activities for riders of any age. WSF is a network of national snowboard associations cooperating worldwide for the development and promotion of the sport. Members find in WSF a source of inspiration and support to their activities. WSF can create added value for everybody involved in snowboard on national level and offers ideas, handbooks and initiatives, the result of an organization whose components share the same goal: progression of snowboarding at all levels. www.worldsnowboardfederation.org
