Monday, February 19, 2007

Andreas and Mirjam place in Nippon Open


Another comp, another couple of Nike ACG riders grace the podiums...

Last week saw the first ever Suzuki Nippon Freeski Open go ahead. Sadly, as seems to be the trend over in Europe, so it was in Japan and another Big Air event was cancelled due to bad weather. Never mind. The organisers of this competition had spared nothing when it came to recruiting the best skiers in the world. Although called an 'open' comp, there was a list of invited riders that would have made anyone go weak at the knees. Yup; Tanner, Candide, Dumont, Gagnier, Pete Olenik, Sammy, Jon Olsson....you get the picture.

Oh yeah, and there was some guy called Andreas Hatveit there too, and guess what? He came second in the Slopestyle event. In an event which Andreas is making his own, he did not disappoint. With a top run of 93.4 you'd think he have it all wrapped up and ready to go, but with a field of riders like the one here, this unfortunately wasn't the case.

Andreas was extremely unfortunate to be pipped to gold by Charles Gagnier who stomped a massive run of 93.8!

Elsewhere Mirjam Jaeger proved that she is still one of the best female freeskiers in the world. In a field as daunting as the mens, she came third. This time it was the superpipe. Mirjam's first run was something of a disappointment, but she bounced back on the second to claim 3rd, behind Grete Eliasson and Sarah Burke.

Congratulations to both Team Riders who have again worked hard to demonstrate their abilities and consistency at competitive riding.

No comments: