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In a high-class competition, Enni Rukajärvi took victory at the 7th Roxy Chicken Jam 2010 at Saalbach Hinterglemm. At the world’s biggest snowboard event for girls only, the 19-year-old Finn won over double Roxy Chicken Jam champ Cheryl Maas (NED) and Norwegian Kjersti Buaas Oestgaard who took second and third. The leader of the Swatch TTR Women’s ranking list Sarka Pancochova (CZE) ended up in fourth.

“I’m very surprised I won here”, Enni Rukajärvi stated after winning the 6-Star event of the Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Women’s Snowboard Tour at the Nightpark Saalbach Hinterglemm. “I enjoyed the contest, it was really high-level. So good riders, I haven’t seen that before!“ At her first big event for the Roxy team, the Finnish rider convinced the jury with her huge and clean jumps and took the lion’s share of the US$ 50,000 prize-money. At her winning run, she showed a 50/50 at the down box, a frontside 360 tail grab, a backside 540 indy and a cab 540 at the kickers as well as a 50/50 nosepress at the Roxy up-down box.

Due to the high-class field of participants, the jury with Oliver Heinrich, Mone Monsberger and Rob Mathera had a tough job to determine the winner. 36 riders from all over the world took part in the qualifications on Friday. The six best of them then met the 18 seeded riders at the finals on Saturday. In a two-hour jam session, the judges picked the best eight riders to ride the super finals. Here, each rider had three runs with the best one counting. “The level of riding went up a lot”, second-placed Cheryl Maas (NED) said. “A lot of the girls were doing 720’s already in the qualifications which we didn’t see any of the other years. In the finals we also saw a lot of switch riding, like cab 540’s and switch backside spins, and that’s good to see.” Thanks to her backside 720 tail grab in the super-finals, Cheryl Maas was rewarded with US$ 1,500 taking the JBL Progressive Award for the best trick.

Third-ranked Kjersti Buaas Oestgaard from Norway was also thrilled by the event which was held at Saalbach Hinterglemm for the first time this year: ”The park is really good, they really did a good job with this. And the town is so cosy, it’s amazing, we only had to walk five minutes from the hotel to get to the park.” Apart from the freestyle snowboarding world elite, the Roxy Chicken Jam 2010 also attracted a lot of spectators who cheered for the riders enthusiastically. “There were a lot of people watching and that’s entertaining and pushing me to do better”, Kjersti Buaas Oestgaard said.

Also for the first time, the Roxy Chicken Jam was held as a carbon neutral event. The compensation for the effects on the environment and the avoidance of CO2 and garbage were in the foreground. The produced emissions were compensated in co-operation with the Suddenrush Atlantic Rainforest Institution (SRAFRI) saving 1,500 square metres of rain forest in Brazil.

For further information visit http://www.roxy.com

Results Roxy Chicken Jam 2010:

1 RUKAJÄRVI, ENNI (FIN)

2 MAAS, CHERYL (NED)

3 OESTGAARD BUAAS, KJERSTI (NOR)

4 PANCOCHOVA, SARKA (CZE)

5 CANDRIAN, SINA (SUI)

6 LARSEN, CECILIA (SWE)

7 WIIK, LISA (NOR)

8 SLADICS, CHANELLE (USA)

The U.S. Olympic Pipe Team Is Finally Announced

It was a night of victory laps for some and edge-of-the-seat nail biters for others. It was a night of HUGE airs—with Scotty and Shaun leading the charge on the first backside hit in the eighteen-footer range.

Kelly Clark Victory Lap Frontside Air

There was heartbreak, too.Of the 24 riders competing today for a legitimate chance to represent the US of A in the Olympics, six of those riders were confirmed. The current U.S. Olympic team is:

US Olympic Snowboarding Halfpipe Team
2006 Olympic Gold Medalist Shaun White
2006 Olympian and 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist Kelly Clark
2006 Olympic Gold Medalist Hannah Teter
2006 Olympic Silver Medalist Gretchen Bleiler
First Time Olympian Louie Vito
First Time Olympian Scotty Lago

Graham Watanabe and Nate Holland are also confirmed for Snowboardcross.

The entire U.S. Olympic team will be announced on Monday including the remaining two pipe riders and the remaining Snowboardcross and Parallel Giant Slalom riders. Elena Hight is in position to take that remaining women’s pipe spot, and three men are tied to take the open men’s pipe spot—19-old Greg Bretz from Mammoth Lakes, California; 2002 Olympic Bronze medalist JJ Thomas, and 19-year-old Luke Mitrani from Stratton, Vermont are all in contention. Seth Wescott is expected to be the third Snowboardcrosser. It’s all up to the U.S. Snowboard team coaches now.

Those that didn’t make it, but came close include U.S. Snowboard teamrider Zack Black who came out of the pack of contenders and landed the first switch backside 10 in competition during the Grand Prix series. And all the other young riders like Matt Ladley, Broc Waring, Dylan Bidez, Ellery Hollingsworth, Maddie Schafrick, Kaitlyn Farrington, and Kelly Marren—it’s been awesome to watch them push it and progress—we’re sure we’ll see them in 2014. And so it goes …

Look for your Olympians to be competing in the X Games starting January 28, 2010, and then training in the Aspen pipe leading up to Vancouver.

OFFICIAL RESULTS

2010 Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Final Grand Prix—Park City, Utah
January 23, 2010

Grand Prix Finals Stop Mens Podium

Men

1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 49.50
2. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 48.00
3. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 45.30
4. Gregory Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 44.80
5. JJ Thomas, Golden, CO, 44.20
6. Jack Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 42.30
7. Dylan Bidez, Minturn, CO, 41.30
8. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 40.60
9. Zack Black, Breckenridge, CO, 38.50
10. Broc Waring, Edwards, CO, 38.20

Grand Prix Final Stop Women’s Podium

Women

1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 47.40
2. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 43.90
3. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 41.00
4. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 36.50
5. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 36.20
6. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 25.40
7. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 15.50
8. Kelly Marren, Hillsborough, CA, 12.60
DNS - Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO

Final Sprint U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix Standings
Average of best two results (ties broken)

Men

1. Shaun White, Carlsbad, CA, 1000
2. Scotty Lago, Seabrook, NH, 800
3. Louie Vito, Sandy, UT, 800
4. Danny Davis, Detroit, MI, 645
5. Greg Bretz, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 550
6. JJ Thomas, Golden, CO, 550
7. Luke Mitrani, Mammoth Lakes, CA, 550
8. Zack Black, Breckenridge, CO, 525
9. Elijah Teter, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 475
10. Steve Fisher, Breckenridge, CO, 400

Women

1. Kelly Clark, Mt. Snow, VT, 1000
2. Gretchen Bleiler, Aspen, CO, 900
3. Hannah Teter, Belmont, VT, 800
4. Elena Hight, South Lake Tahoe, CA, 650
5. Ellery Hollingsworth, Stratton, VT, 600
6. Kaitlyn Farrington, Sun Valley, ID, 500
7. Maddy Schaffrick, Steamboat Springs, CO, 500
8. Clair Bidez, Minturn, CO, 425
9. Kelly Marren, Hillsborough, CA, 320

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