The next edition of World Championships of Snowboarding will be hosted by Yabuli, China in February 2016.

Everything went quite smoothly in Oslo last year at the World Snowboarding Championships, except for the lack of ambulances. So the next logical step is to move the February 2016 edition of the event 8000 miles around the world, up by Mongolia. In a resort none of us have ever ridden in or heard of. But they probably have an all you can eat buffet there so why the heck not. And they’re throwing in a Big Air event for our viewing pleasure too, so everyone’s winning. The decision to move away from less obscure venues is clearly “a major step forward in our ambition to establish the World Championships of Snowboarding as the world´s most respected snowboarding contest”, just as Reto Lamm says. Obvious, really.

For the uninitiated amongst you, Yabuli is away up the north of China in Heilongjiang. You know, the place famous for China’s best fumigated raw dog and salmon soup. Round the corner from Mundanjiang. Just up the road from Harbin, the place where snowman building contests have been way out of hand since the mid nineties.

World Snowboard Federation president Marco Sampaoli reckons “every rider coming from all around the world to China’s northeast will undoubtedly have a memorable experience” and you’ve got to assume he’ll be right. I mean, almost everything you own that is cool, tacky, or just plain bizarre was made by a small child in china. The Beijing Olympics were a hoot. Let’s send some snowboarders over there, have a bowl or two of dog soup served by a waiter talking a language we can’t decipher, add a dollop of dubstep, gopro every move they make and you’ve got a guaranteed viral jackpot in the making. Both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are allowed to turn a blind eye to the questionable politics of their host nations, so why should the WST stand for anything different. And hey, I’ll be snuggled up with my mactop watching from somewhere warm in the heart of the Alps, so what do I care which corner of the internet the highlights are streaming from, as long as 14 year olds are trippling off massive piles of snow and there are some flashy lights?

YES Torgeir Bergrem. Photo: Thomas Copsey

Last night Davos erupted into a mind-blowing display of kicker riding as the first couple of rounds of the Big Air got underway. Check the gwaan in words, pictures and video…

While, prior to the action getting underway, the talk around town was all about how all the big name contest freaks had sacked this contest off in order to battle with hunks of Canadian ice and chase the Olympic dream when the Big Air action kicked off last night we can only say that – names aside – they weren’t missed. The list of tricks put down by this field of admittedly less marquee-named dudes was as heavy as you’ll find at any contest anywhere. Front 10 dubs, back 12 dubs and the ubiquitous back 10 double – proper, mind – were stomped with ruthless efficiency and, not for the first time this year, we were left cradling our heads at the level that contest shredding is today.

Max Buri. Photo: Thomas Copsey

After the afternoon’s qualifiers, the evening stomp off saw the 13 who made it through face-off against the 11 invited riders. There were some epic battles, like Kyle Mack and Boris Mouton – both just 15 – trading flawless doubles and Markku Koski getting denied by Markus Mathis on his final jump by finally putting down the back 10 dub, plus there were some individual performances that shone white hot – specifically Dash Kamp’s round-the-corner jibbing (he even tried a mind-blowing gap from the corner rail to the down rail but came up short and spannered himself), Seb Toutant’s reliable smooth yet megatech riding, and Maxence Parrot who makes landing double back 12s look as easy as stomping a back 1.

Boris Mouton. He is 15 and can stomp more back 10 doubles than you. Photo: Thomas Copsey

But all that was just a prelude. Tonight it’s finals time and we imagine we’ll be seeing a triple or two no doubt. See, madness.

Markku Koski. Photo: Thomas Copsey

The internet’s favourite snowboarder, Halldor Helgason, sends SEO nerds wild as he wins the 2011 edition of Freestyle.CH, with Seppe Smits and Ståle Sandbech in second and third.

The sun was shining once more for this year’s edition of the Freestyle.CH, banishing the sodden memories of last year’s washout. Though the hype was all about the (mini) Mega Ramp making its debut on European shores, we were far more concerned with watching the snowboarding, and getting an early look at what we might expect from this season’s contest schedule. On the basis of this, doubles are the new black, 10s are the new 7s, but some cats can still stomp down the style when they feel like it.

When all was wrapped, Halldor Helgason bagged the swag with a front 10 double that was almost as narcoleptic as the one he did to win the X-Games a couple years back. As he says in his interview in next month’s Onboard mag, he’s just as likely to come last as first in contests such is his death or glory approach to riding. This time it was Stompy Lobster that turned up, and when that guy’s in the house then he’ll always have a say.

So, entertain yourselves with the highlights of all the event’s winners (apologies for the helicoptering in there), where you’ll see Halldor Helgason’s swag bagging front 10 double. He does them so lazy-style it is unreal.

And for more pure shredding, here’s the cut of the snowboard semi finals.

And here’s the qualifiers, with some proper stompers from Halldor (rocket air backflip late 180, yes!) Marko Grilc, Christian Haller, Seb Toutant and more…

Winning! Halldor Helgason and a bunch of other winner dudes.

Jake Brown, Bob Burnquist and Rob Lorofice are frickin’ nuts.

Yes, we’re a snowboard website and, yes, we think snowboarding is the tits. But sometimes you have to hold your hands up and admit: skateboarders often make snowboarders look fucking pussies. 22-foot McTwists? Switch backside 5s? Heave-Hos? No bindings? All this and more went down at this year’s X-Games skate big air. Check all the vids out here, but we had to drop Bob’s switch back 5 to back 5 combo on ya. Holy man bags.

Jamie Nicholls.

During the men’s qualification rounds a selection of stylish 7’s 9’s, corked 10’s and double front-flips were being thrown down showcasing just how high the current standard of UK snowboarding is.

Only 12 spots in the final were up for grabs and it was Billy Morgan who was crowned the 2010 British Giro Big Air Champion, his first ever BRITS win, after landing a super technical double corked 1080. Jamie Nicholls who had qualified through to the final in top spot finished in a very close second after riding super strong all day and also landing a double corked 1080. Third place went to Scott Penman with a double front flip, with a special mention also going to Nelson Pratt who missed out on a podium placing by just 1 decimal point after he stomped a stylish frontside 900.

Billy Morgan quoted: “I landed pretty clean so I was pretty happy, I came sixth last year as I just couldn’t land my tricks but this time I’ve done less partying, spent more time on the hill and just done a lot more training so I think I was a lot more focused this time.”

Aimee Fuller.

During the women’s competition Aimee Fuller was leading the way and setting the standard, qualifying through to the six women final in top spot with a huge stylish laid out back-flip. Aimee unfortunately crashed out in the final and the title was left wide open for newcomer, Katie Blundell, who scooped up her first ever BRITS gold and the 2010 Giro British Big Air Title after she landed a huge, solid straight air over the big kicker. Second place with a stylish nose grab went to Sophie Addison, with Rebecca Cullum finishing in third with a straight air tweaked tail grab over the big kicker.

Men's podium.

Katie Blundell quoted: “I just can’t believe I’ve won the standard was really high today and it’s only my fourth or fifth competition. I’ve been in America for the last three months and literally ridden every day except for three days so I think that’s definitely helped.”

Women's podium.

Giro British Big Air Championship Results
Men                                         Women
1st – Billy Morgan               1st – Katie Blundell
2nd – Jamie Nicholls         2nd – Sophie Addison
3rd – Scott Penman             3rd – Rebecca Cullum

Don’t forget to check out the BRITS 2010 daily webcasts at www.brits10.com, where you will be able to review the Snowboard and Freeski action and après from the previous day’s competition.

Ettala, Jones, Helgason, White and Bleiler take the honours in Aspen with snowboarding getting out of hand again…

How about them apples? No ‘Text Voting’ controversy this time round, but plenty of sickness on show instead at the big TV spectacular.

Jenny Jones – Women’s slopestyle gold

First up, the slopestyle. In the women’s Jenny Jones showed her win last year was no fluke by landing a solid run made up of some smooth jibs and then front 5 to cab 5 to sick front 7 done like they should be done. Dunno whether she kipped with this year’s medal as she did with last year’s, but you can be sure the 10% rule was in full effect. Two X-Games golds in two years, an Onboard interview, Dew Tour podiums, Superpark invites… dang, the girl’s on a serious roll. Long may that continue…

Eero Ettala – Men’s slopestyle Gold

Despite being one of the most respected riders around, Eero Ettala had never medalled in the X-Games. Well, he certainly put that right over the weekend. Throwing it down on his very first run, he showed his killer style in the upper jib section and then fired it out on the kickers with a backside late cork 10, a double cork back rodeo 9 and a switch double backflip. It was full on robo-boarding with Eero’s patented mad steeze. No one else had a strong enough answer to that and the Finn walked away with the win.

Halldor Helgason – Big Air gold

The big air, site of last year’s SMS stupidity, was memorable for all the right reasons this time around as Icelandic ripper Halldor Helgason scored the perfect 100 points from his two runs. A frontside double cork 10 and a backside double cork 1260 netted him 50 points each and it’s easy to see why this young buck is kind of a big deal right now. Just watch how relaxed he looks on the front double 10 slow-mo. Stupido.

Gretchen Bleiler – Women’s pipe Gold

Things were gnarly in the pipe too where hometown heroine Gretchen Bleiler edged out Kelly Clark with a heavy run consisting of a front 9, back 5, inverted front 7, Cab 7 and frontside 5. All with legit height. Screw legit, monster is more apt and the win sees Gretchen set up for Vancouver with a solid statement of intent.

Shaun White – Men’s Halfpipe gold

And Shaun White won the men’s pipe. Shock. Horror. It wasn’t as smooth sailing as it sounds, though. We all know he dropped the double McTwist 12 a week or two back but in training he went for it on his last hit and took the coping to the head. After what happened to Kevin Pearce you couldn’t help but shudder when his head connected and his helmet flew off but fortunately it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, though Shaun certainly looked shaken. An hour later, he manned it up in the final and further demonstrated why he’s the guy to beat in Vancouver. Giant backside air, double cork front 10 to cab double cork 10, frontside 5, double cork McTwist 12 and alley-oop backside rodeo to finish. Yes, he can fall, but it looks like it just serves to spur him on further.

When all was said and done, the X-Games showed how snowboarding is becoming more and more like a video game each time riders drop in this season. That shit is retarded. We’re looking forward to when the big X stamps itself down in Tignes this March, that’s for sure…

2010 seems to be a good year for the Helgasons. They were busy competing at the Winter X Games in Aspen and collecting several awards last week.

We are proud to congratulate Eiki for the TWS Readers Choice Award and Halldór for two (yes he won both!) Rookie of the Year Awards. Snowboarder Mag Rookie of the Year 2010 and TWS Rookie of the Year. Have a look at helgasons.com for some pics and a little video of Eikis victory speech and the TWSNOW article of the 11th Annual TWS Riders Poll Awards

Blue Tomato teamrider Halldor Helgason just won the X Games Big Air!

After his first place at the Slopestyle Qualification on Saturday (got 8th in the finals cause he couldn’t stomp all his tricks) he owned the X Games Big Air Event with an undefeatable score.
Halldor pulled a double-cork fs10 and a double-cork bs12 in his first two runs… Two times perfect score of 50 points!

X Games Fourteen Big Air Results

1. Halldor Helgason
2. Torstein Horgmo
3. Mikkel Bang
4. Eero Ettala
5. Tyler Flanagan

Also check the TWSNOW.com contest feature for the TWS video edit and some pics plus helgasons.com to keep up-to-date with Eiki and Halldor