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Thanks to everyone who cast votes in the elimination round last week, we’ve determined 16 male and 8 female contenders for the title of Downdays European Skier of the Year!
The contest now moves into the first round of Head-to-Head match-ups for the men, while voting for the women will begin in Round 2 on Thursday.
Scope the challengers below, and make your pick to determine which skiers advance to the next round!
Voting in Round 1 is open until 8:00am CET on Thursday, November 5.
Full results of the first poll HERE
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Downdays European Skier of the Year – Round 1Vous avez été nombreux à voter pour les qualifications la semaine passée. Vous avez sélectionné 12 hommes et 6 femmes, Nous en avons rajouté 4 et 2.
Alors que les femmes n’entreront dans l’arène que ce jeudi à l’occasion du round 2, le vote pour les hommes commence dés aujourd’hui et se poursuit jusqu’au jeudi 5 novembre à 8 heure ( CET ).
Pour voir les résultats complets de la semaine passée, ça se passe ICI
[socialpoll id=”[socialpoll id=”2157490″ type=”set”]
Downdays European Skier Of The Year – Cast Your Vote!Following a highly successful debut last year, we’re glad to announce that the Downdays European Skier Of The Year Award is back for 2015! Now’s the time to cast your vote for your favorite male and female freeskiers from European soil.
We’ve scoped this year’s best ski movies, scoured the competition results, and consulted skiers from Spain to Sweden to determine this year’s nominees. Did we forget someone? Make your case in the comments section, and maybe we’ll add them to the poll.
Vote now for your favorite 12 men and six women to enter the next round, and we’ll add in four male and two female wild card entries. First round voting is open until 2 November – after that we’ll move into head-to-head finals.
Start of the rider registration for the LAAX OPEN 2016!LAAX, Switzerland, October 20, 2015 – Kick-Off for the LAAX OPEN 2016 on www.laax.com/open with the
riders’ online registration opening for the highlight of the upcoming snowboard season. At the LAAX OPEN,
being held for the first time from January 18 to 24, 2016, there are half a million dollars to be won in the
halfpipe and slopestyle contests.
Save your spot for the open qualifiers now! Take your chance competing alongside Olympic and world
champions. Amaze everyone with your skills and style. And win a golden chunk of the sensational US$
500,000 prize money. Impossible? Nothing is impossible for true freestylers. Just so you know what you’re
getting into, here are the facts at a glance:
Date: January 18-24, 2016
Location/country: LAAX, Switzerland
Tour: part of the World Snowboard Tour 2015/2016, elite level
Disciplines: halfpipe, slopestyle
Participants: 300 riders from around the globe
Categories: women, men
Prize-money: US$ 500.000
What is the LAAX OPEN?
The LAAX OPEN is a snowboard event that will be held for the first time from January 18-24, 2016, setting
new standards. The LAAX OPEN guarantees a week of snowboarding at its finest. This includes halfpipe
and slopestyle contests for men and women with total prize money of USD 500,000. Concerts and powder
sessions round off the LAAX lifestyle experience.
What are the riding formats?
In the open qualifications (30 women/60 men per discipline), each rider has two runs, with the highest score
counting. The best riders go on to the semi-finals, where they’ll meet seeded international top riders. If not all
the seeded riders show up, the field (20 women/40 men) will be filled with more riders from the qualifiers.
There are also two runs in the semi-finals, with the best score counting. Those making it to the top 6 in the
women’s and top 12 in the men’s category will go on to the finals for the first ever LAAX OPEN title.
Who are the seeded riders?
The top 10 women and top 20 men in the slopestyle and halfpipe World Snowboarding Points List (as of
October 17, 2015) will be seeded into the semi-finals as well as 4/8 wild cards, which are on discretion of the
event-organizer LAAX.
May I also take part in the contest?
Yes, qualification is open to any passionate rider, born 2001 or earlier. But to lay it on the line for you: you
should be able to rock the Pro-Kicker-Line at Snowpark Curnius with its special event set-up and the 200-
metre-long superpipe with its 6.9-meter walls.
How many open spots are there?
30 woman/60 men per discipline
Where and when do I register?
At www.laax.com/open from October 20 to November 30, 2015
The vibes throughout the three-day event were most definitely high and blue skies ensured that the contests ran without a hitch. Although the slopestyle line was slightly reduced in size, due to lack of significant snowfall the weeks prior, everyone competing was simply stoked to be sliding on snow again.
“I always love coming to Kaunertal and finally skiing with everyone again,” said Lisa Zimmerman, almost a veteran of the KTO, who won the female pro slopestyle contest for an impressive fifth year in a row.
Rising star Lukas Müllauer won a tight contest in the men’s division ahead of Torge Nagel and Fabian Bösch, “Although the course was kind of small, it was still fun and I am stoked to have won” reflected Lukas.
We even snuck in a cheeky Downdays Rail Jam and lots of stoked folk got their jib on, collecting prizes along the way. The award for best trick – a dope pair of Armada B-Dog Skis – went to style underdog Jannis Hoffmann, who stuck an unreal broken grind to blind 630 out!
Young Jannis has plenty of potential and if these first three days are an indication of things to come, so does our season. Thanks Kaunertal for an epic weekend, and bring on winter!
Press release
The Association of Freeskiing Professionals is excited to announce that the 2015/2016 AFP World Tour Calendar is now live.
This year’s World Tour, which is the biggest yet, consists of 73 competitions at 49 events in 14 Countries and 16 States/Provinces. Some events have yet to be announced, and some event dates are in the process of being finalized, so be sure to stay tuned to the Calendar for updates.
“The 2015/16 World Tour is a robust list of events,” states AFP Executive Director Eric Zerrenner. “We are really encouraged by the increased number of Bronze events, which indicates the growth of freeskiing – both in athlete participation and interest in the AFP system,” continues Zerrenner. “This growth trend, specifically at the youth level, is something we (the AFP) have been focused on, so it’s rewarding to see the results.”
To view the 2015/2016 AFP World Tour Calendar, head to afpworldtour.com/calendar.
On behalf of everyone at The Association of Freeskiing Professionals, good luck to all athletes competing on this season’s AFP World Tour!
For information on the Association of Freeskiing Professionals and/or the AFP World Tour Calendar, please feel free to contact the AFP…
Best “I really want to be the photographer on this shoot” Nico Vuignier project
Best “I dream of being a bad guy” Masquerade by Superproof
Best “I just want to show you my awesome and chill life” Nimbus Independent
Best “We sacrifice our lives for our movie” Clayton Vila
Best “I do the show on the stage” Maxime Maury Martinod (Balec presentation)
Best “lag” Annecy cinema on Tanner Hall Project
Best “You think you will watch a movie… here is a trailer” Sammy C Project
Best “You will never understand our world” The Bunch
Best “You think the movie is over and then it keeps going” Snowcieties by Armada
Best Comeback – JF Houle
Best “We use a philosophical talk to give sense to our movie” Cruise Control by Gpsy
Best “I will never give up” Cam Riley, For Lack of Better
Best “Commercial for a ski resort” Fast Forward by Matthias Lopez
Best “Japan Powder Part” Every production crew
The High Five Festival just ended on Sunday evening, as riders and spectators slowly came back down to earth after the Level 1 movie. Looking back at this crazy weekend, I think of the vibes of the first night as the right feeling that a ski film festival and even freeskiing should make you feel.
It’s not enough to talk about the facts, the number of spectators, the movies, the taste of the burgers, the thousands of stickers, the 70 people on staff, the crazy parties, the liters of beer consumed, the commercials before each video, the village full of screaming kids getting autographs from riders they don’t even know. We can’t properly recap the facts when so much happens, so let’s talk about the emotion instead.
On Friday night I watched “For Lack of Better,” and then the tribute to JP Auclair right afterward. These were two radically different screening sessions on two different topics, two sides to the same conclusion: skiers are really awesome.
The Clayton Vila project reminded me how much riders give of themselves to realize their projects, to show you the best and inspire you. How they dedicate their lives and bodies to skiing, even when they know that it really isn’t worth it. How riders can start off in the park, and end up directing a movie throughout the whole winter, getting up and sending it again even after trying a rail for the 132nd time…
JP’s tribute made me realize how many wonderful people are involved in this sport, and even if so much of what we do seems frivolous, the stories, emotions, skills and the people behind them are real, and strong. I realized how creative these people are, always seeking to inspire, and how much we respect them for being extraordinary.
Guillaume Desmurs told me during a conversation: “Like with rock stars – we don’t expect them to act reasonably, we hope for more.” It made me think about what I saw, and how jealous I can be of people giving so much to a passion and a dream. Even if I make fun of Gaylord Pedretti, the High Five organizer, when he talks about “kids’ dreams, blah blah blah”, he really isn’t that far off.
It was just the first evening of three intense days, but for me it said everything. Luckily I hadn’t seen JF Houle’s movie yet – otherwise this text would be much longer…
Thanks to the skiers for being awesome, thanks to the filmmakers for capturing it and making it look incredible, thanks to the High Five Festival for bringing it to a large audience, and thanks to this audience who shares the passion for this incredible sport.
It’s Saturday morning, and when I try to remember what I did yesterday, I can’t believe it was only the first day of High Five. With movies that transport you into different moods, locations, atmospheres and worlds, and schedules that start at 8am and end at 6am the next day, one day at High Five can seem like a whole week of action.
It was a long day, but I’ll keep this article short – if you want it long, check the schedule on the internet. It was what will be – now, it’s what was. So I won’t talk about the afternoon in the brand village, full of games, speakers, music, kids, signing sessions, and plenty of work and endurance required for those working there.
Around 7pm, after the kids left the village and our souls were touched by 45 minutes of Clayton Vila’s “For Lack Of Better,” the JP Auclair Memorial started with a mix of speeches and awesome segments to remember who JP was and how he continues to inspire us.
While the parties got started in the city and the Cafette, the last screening session got underway with three rooms totally full of viewers, and also of rider’s self-expression, as Chris Logan shared a passionate un-official speech.
Almost 11pm, the party started to pick up its pace: drunk people, conversations, dangerous security guys, and (apparently) nice music, before everyone moved to the Bowl till 6am.
Well, that’s basically a day in the life in Annecy. Let’s meet up again after the event to recap this High Five Festival 2015.
