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Germany's Jan Michaelis today (Thu 22 Jan) won the superpipe
discipline of the inaugural O’Neill Pro Freestyle with Spaniard
Cuca Aranda taking out the women’s event. Both dominated the finals,
with epic displays; clocking up commanding leads from the very start
of the jam format session to claim the top honours, earn a healthy
cash bonus as well as gain entry to the Leysin Championships round
of the TTR tour.
Bluebird skies for final
In stark contrast to the qualifying rounds, which were dogged by
temperamental weather conditions, Avoriaz woke to faultless, bluebird
skies and perfect snow conditions.
As the men’s final got up a head of steam it was the extraordinary
talents of Gian Simmen that took the early lead but then Jan Michaelis
stepped up to the mound and threw down a solid bid to slip into
the lead holding an 8.5 score. Starting off with a Haaken 1080°
on the first hit and followed up by a massive F/s air to B/s 5 rounding
off with a mute F/s inverted 7 double grab. The crowd at the pipe
exit and along the coping erupted as the humble regular footer stormed
into the lead. With over 45 minutes remaining in the session the
lofty German had sealed his victory.
"Jam format amps the level of snowboarding"
“I’m really happy and pretty exhausted, but the finals were great!
I’m so stoked to be here and get the result,” stated Jan. “The jam
format really pushes the riding to another dimension. You can just
try tricks you're not safe on and that amps the level of snowboarding
for sure. When I go to drop in I always try to keep my head clear
and I have this Mp3 player so I try and disappear into my own world.”
he added.
Cuca Aranda takes the women's event
The women’s final had a super relaxed atmosphere as the girls traded
hits and charged each other’s performances. The eventual winner
came in the form of the laid back talents of Cuca Aranda from Spain.
Cuca was on fire for the duration, making everything she threw down
look easy with her cool and fluid display of pipe riding. Frances
Caroline Beilard was on her heels for the duration but was forced
to settle for 2nd with Rita Comi taking 3rd.
“It was such an enjoyable session to ride with the girls, there
was a good atmosphere on the mountain we were all having so much
fun.” Said Cuca “I’m really happy to win. The Jam format is really
good, I hate being told when to go and I hate waiting around so
this kind of format suits me really well. It felt like we were all
riding for fun, it didn’t feel like a contest. I could have ridden
better but I’m happy with the result. I dedicate my win to a good
friend who died yesterday, so it’s for him, I’m going to miss him
very much.” She added
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