Air & Style

Last updated • 5 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

The Air & Style is a European snowboard contest first held in Innsbruck, Austria in 1994 and now held annually.

Contents

History

Charly Weger and his snowboard photographer friend Andrew Hourmont first started the Air & Style Contest in Innsbruck. They only expected some hundred spectators but more than a few thousand showed up to see a single Straight Jump from each rider. From there on, it developed into one of the most influential snowboard challenges today.

Until 1999, the sponsorship exploded and over 45,000 visitors witnessed the last Air & Style in Innsbruck, [1] when six people died after the show when everybody tried to leave at once and the exits could not funnel the masses. The contest had to move and the Bergisel stadium was renovated. In Seefeld, a place near Innsbruck, five other contests were held until in 2005 it found a new home in Munich, Germany where it expanded its program with Freestyle Motocross. For February 2008, the contest returned to Innsbruck, and will presumably stay there for the following years. Also, three skateboard contests have taken place in Innsbruck and Seefeld, even won by Tony Hawk in 1999. After the end of the International Snowboarding Federation in 2002 the contest joined the newly formed TTR World Tour , and Air & Style Munich is now a 6Star event on the World Tour, whilst Air & Style Innsbruck held a 5-star status until 2009 when it was given a 6-star accreditation. In 2000, the prize money was over 250,000 US dollars (including an Audi A3).

On February 2, 2008, an Air & Style quarterpipe event was held in Innsbruck in addition to the Straight Jump in Munich. Kevin Pearce won the event, which made him the first winner of two Air & Style competitions in one season. The organiser has announced that this event will from now on also be held annually as a TTR 6 Star event. [2]

On December 4, 2010, the first edition of an Air & Style overseas went down in Beijing, China with Sebastien Toutant taking the win. Moving the event to the Bird's Nest Stadium in the following year it will go into its fourth consecutive season in 2013. On December 8, 2012, Mark McMorris and Yuki Kadono landed the first ever triple corks at an Air & Style event.

On February 1 and 2, 2013, the Air & Style celebrated its 20th birthday with a special two-day event. On Friday, the burn Style Session witnessed a return to the roots of snowboarding with legends hitting the jump like Haakonsen, Gimpl, Iguchi, Basich, Rüf and many more. The winner of the burn Style Session was Marko Grilc. On February 2, the birthday Air & Style 6-star event saw the first triple corks landed at an Air & Style in Innsbruck. Eric Willett was the winner of the birthday Air & Style edition.

Select Air & Style events now also feature musical performances be globally and locally renowned artists. The performances are interspersed with the sporting competition cycles. Innsbruck's 2015 snowboard event featured the likes of Sum 41 and Rudimental.

Chronology

Big Air competitions

Winner: Reto Lamm

Winner: Ingemar Backman

Winner: Terje Håkonsen

Winner: Fabien Rohrer

Winner: Jim Rippey (Quarterpipe: Terje Håkonsen)

Winner: Ingemar Backman

Winner: Stefan Gimpl (Quarterpipe Male: Trevor Andrew, Female: Pauline Richon)

Winner: Stefan Gimpl (Corner Male: Mike Michaelchuck, Female: Pauline Richon)

Winner: Stefan Gimpl (Corner Male: Markku Koski, Female: Pauline Richon)

Winner: David Benedek

Winner: Shaun White (Freestyle Motocross: Nate Adams)

Winner: Shaun White (Freestyle Motocross: Ronnie Renner)

Winner: Hampus Mosesson (Freestyle Motocross: Nate Adams)

Winner: Travis Rice (Rookie Challenge: Mikkel Bang, Freestyle Motocross: Wiley Fullmer)

Winner: Kevin Pearce (Rookie Challenge : Tim Humphreys, FSX: Daniel Bodin)

Cancelled due to last minute sponsorship pullout.

Winner: Marko Grilc (Rookie Challenge: Seppe Smits)

Winner: Sebastien Toutant

Winner: Mark McMorris

Winner: Peetu Piiroinen

Winner: UIrik Badertscher

Winner: Peetu Piiroinen

Winner: Yuki Kadono

Winner: Eric Willett

Winner: Sven Thorgren

Quarterpipe competitions

Winner: Kevin Pearce (Runner up: Scotty Lago)

Winner: Colin Frei

Skateboard Competitions

Winner: Tony Hawk

Winner: Lincoln Ueda

Winner: Sandro Dias

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowboarding</span> Snow sport involving a single board

Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">X Games</span> Extreme sports tournament

The X Games are an annual action sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Participants compete to win bronze, silver, and gold medals, as well as prize money.

Terje Håkonsen is a Norwegian professional snowboarder. He is considered one of the most influential snowboarders in the history of the sport. In the book The way of the snowboarder, Rob Reed wrote that "Haakonsen took the young sport of snowboarding and revolutionized nearly every aspect of it".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antti Autti</span> Finnish snowboarder

Antti-Matias Antero Autti is a Finnish Snowboarding who won the Men's Superpipe at the 2005 Winter X Games. He is one of two snowboarders, along with Steve Fisher, ever to beat American snowboarder Shaun White in the X Games Superpipe.

The Arctic Challenge is a snowboarding contest arranged for and by the riders themselves. It was started by Norwegian professional snowboarders Daniel Franck and Terje Håkonsen. The contest was established as an alternative to the former competitions that had become streamlined and run by schedules and directions from TV-coverage, major sponsors and other external forces. It formerly held the status as the final for the "World Snowboard Tour", and is held in Norway annually - usually at a location north of the Arctic Circle.

The Gravity Games was a multi-sport competition originating in Providence, Rhode Island that was broken down into Winter and Summer adaptations. The competition featured a variety of extreme sports such as aggressive inline skating, skateboarding, freestyle motocross, BMX freestyle and snowboarding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kelly Clark</span> American snowboarder

Kelly Clark is an American snowboarder who won halfpipe gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Clark was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She started snowboarding when she was 7 years old, began competing in 1999, and became a member of the US Snowboard team in 2000. On January 25, 2019, at the Winter X Games in Aspen, she announced her retirement from the sport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travis Rice</span> American professional snowboarder (born 1982)

Travis Rice is an American professional snowboarder. He is #13 on Snowboarder magazine's list of the 20 most influential snowboarders of the last 20 years. The 40-year-old has featured in more than twenty snowboarding films. Rice's biggest claim to fame was when he arrived at Snowboarder magazine's Superpark contest at Mammoth Mountain and launched a 'mammoth' of a backside rodeo across a 117-foot gap jump. He has been considered "the Paul Revere" of the big mountain freestyle movement. In 2013, Rice was named the best contemporary snowboarder in the world by Red Bull; Rice was also hailed as one of the greatest snowboarders of all time by numerous writers and publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Risto Mattila</span> Finnish snowboarder

Risto Mattila is a Finnish snowboarder. He is an all-around rider, who has many achievements in half pipe, big air and in park riding contests. He has also made a name by having shots in the international snowboarding magazines. He is well known as a confident rider and because of his smooth style.

Reto Lamm is a former snowboarding champion from Switzerland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathieu Crépel</span> French snowboarder

Mathieu Crépel is a French professional snowboarder and World Champion based in Anglet, Northern Basque Country. Crépel rides regular stance. He has also surfed competitively in the multi-discipline Quik Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Pearce (snowboarder)</span> American snowboarder

Kevin Pearce is the co-founder of the Love Your Brain Foundation, a nonprofit organization that aims to improve the quality of life of people affected by traumatic brain injury. He also is an inspirational speaker, and an American former professional snowboarder. He was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, and raised in Hartland, Vermont, before moving with his parents to Norwich, Vermont. He competed professionally from 2007 to 2009, when a crash during snowboard training left him with a traumatic brain injury.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Anderson (snowboarder)</span> American professional snowboarder

Jamie Louise Anderson is an American professional snowboarder. She won the gold medal in the inaugural Women's Slopestyle Event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia and repeated the feat at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, making her the first female snowboarder to win more than one Olympic gold medal. She has won gold medals in slopestyle at the Winter X Games in consecutive years in 2007/8 and 2012/3. She has 25 total medals: eighteen gold, five silver, and two bronze.

Peetu Piiroinen is a Finnish snowboarder. He is a three-time Olympian representing Finland in snowboarding at the 2010 Winter Olympics, 2014 Winter Olympics and 2018 Winter Olympics. Peetu made the finals in all 3 Olympics and won the silver medal at the 2010 Games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iouri Podladtchikov</span> Russian-Swiss snowboarder

Iouri Iourеvich Podladtchikov is a Russian-born Swiss snowboarder. He rides goofy stance. He has competed since 2000. He won the gold medal for the halfpipe at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seppe Smits</span> Belgian professional snowboarder

Sebastien "Seppe" Smits is a Belgian professional snowboarder and World Championship medalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sébastien Toutant</span> Canadian snowboarder

Sébastien Toutant is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic gold medallist in men's big air snowboarding from its debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Toutant was twice the gold medal winner in slopestyle at the X Games in 2011 and 2013. He has won an additional two silver medals plus a bronze in slopestyle and big air events at the X Games, bringing his total medals in the competition to five.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark McMorris</span> Canadian snowboarder

Mark Lee McMorris is a Canadian professional snowboarder who specializes in slopestyle and big air events. A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, he placed third in each of the 2014 Winter Olympics, 2018 Winter Olympics, and 2022 Winter Olympics in the slopestyle event. While filming for Transworld Snowboarding's "Park Sessions" video in March 2011, Mark became the first person to land a Backside Triple Cork 1440. More recently, on April 28, 2018, Mark landed the world's first Double Cork off a rail, the Front-Board Double Cork 1170, with a melancholy grab. Mark has also left his mark at X-Games and other events. In 2012 and 2013, Mark won back-to-back gold medals in Winter X Games in the slopestyle event. In 2023 he defended his Winter X Games gold medal in the men's slopestyle to set a record for the most Winter X Games medals with 22.

Yuki Kadono is a Japanese snowboarder who competes in the slopestyle event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Burgener</span> Swiss snowboarder

Patrick Burgener, better known as Pat Burgener, is a Swiss professional snowboarder, two-time Olympian and musician. Pat joined the Swiss national team at the age of 14 and landed the world’s first Switch Backside Triple Cork 1440 in April 2011. Pat competed for Switzerland in the men's halfpipe at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang where he finished 5th overall. He earned two bronze medals in the halfpipe events at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships 2017 and again in 2019. Pat was named to his second Swiss Olympic Snowboard Freestyle Team on 18 January 2022. He represented Switzerland in the men’s halfpipe at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing where he qualified for the finals and placed 11th overall. His career results also include nine World Cup podiums, five European Cup podiums and seven Swiss Champion titles respectively in halfpipe and early on in big air.

References

  1. "Air & Style Snowboard Contest 1999 - Cybercasting". Archived from the original on 2009-02-12. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
  2. http://www.ttrworldtour.com/events/6star-events.html Archived 2008-09-14 at the Wayback Machine TTR 6Star events