Takeru Otsuka and Kokomo Murase made their dream come true winning the most prestigious pro event on the planet
The X Games Norway represent an important opportunity for all riders that want to progress their carrier in snowboarding and each year gathers the strongest snowboarders in the world, ready to obtain a place in the podium. But it was Takeru Otsuka and the thirteen-year-old Kokomo Murase from Japan who conquered the podium of the 2018 X Games Norway, leaving the public astonished and demonstrating once again the incredible riding level of the World Rookie Tour athletes.
“We have been long time partners with World Rookie Tour. Great athletes have won this tour and deserved spots in our events. But this is historic. It’s a sports fairy tale. Earning a spot in our qualification is a legendary in itself. But winning both the qualification and the gold is beyond belief. It’s like Norway would have won the world champs in soccer, which will never happen”. Henning Anderson, organizer of the X Games Norway.
The World Rookie Tour is not just a competition, it helps riders to become professional snowboarders giving them visibility and the opportunity to participate to one of the most famous contests in the world. As Marco Sampaoli, the World Rookie Tour Co-Founder, stated “World rookie tour champions winning the 2018 X Games Norway represent a great recognition for our project: to offer every rookie out there the possibility to make their Dream come true. If your dream is to be a Professional snowboarder, they your future start at the rookie Fest“.
Timothy Reed, the X Games Vice President added “It was a great story for Takeru to be invited through our partnership with the World Rookie Tour and then for him to deliver the results he did. In his first X Games he speaks of the credibility of the World Rookie Tour platform and the opportunities it provides snowboarders to launch what we all hope are amazing careers. In the end it was special weekend for the Rookie World Tour in that two past champions, Kokomo and Takeru were able to launch their careers with X Games golds“.
It is an historic victory as two young riders were able to go beyond the worldwide snowboarding level and it was the first time that a thirteen-year-old girl dominated the scenes. “All I can say is that I’m super stoked. I appreciated the chance the World Rookie Tour gave to me“, Takeru Otsuka.
This is an important milestone for the World Rookie Tour as its objective consists in providing a successful platform and helping young riders. “ It is incredible what happened in Oslo, the riding level of our WRT riders is really high. I was sure that they would have achieved good results but seeing both winning the competition made me happy and proud of what World Rookie Tour have become.” Meinhard Trojer, World Rookie Tour Co-Founder.
The Black Yeti is proud of you. Congratulations!
Takeru Otsuka, winner of 2018 X Games Norway: watch the video here.
Kokomo Murase, female winner of 2018 X Games Norway: watch the video here
