Where: Calgary, Canada

R: Iouri Podladtchikov, P: Jeff Patterson

For the latest leg of the Burton Global Open Series, riders had to travel up north to Canada, which is sometimes referred to as the US’s largest national park and tourist attraction. With the Olympics just a few days away the Canadian Open might have been a little off the radar for some, but the lineup of riders and their level of shred was pretty impressive nontheless. Maybe the $25.000 prize purse helped a little, too.

Bluebird conditions on Saturday greeted the riders for the pipe semi-finals and finals at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park. In the end it was Swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov, who claimed the men’s podium with a banger second run. It consisted of a cab 1080 double cork for starters and was followed by a frontside 1080, a cab 7, frontside 5 and ended with a backside air. This and his recent X-Games silver medal should be boost his confidence enough to shake things up at Vancouver, too…

R: Kendall Brown, P: Jeff Patterson

On the women’s side, New Zealand rider Kendall Brown took the victory with a run that included a lein air, followed by a backside 540 mute, into frontside 540 stalefish, into backside air, finishing with an air-to-fakie.

The next days’ slopestyle finals weren’t quite as blessed weather-wise. Temperatures dropped and heavy fog moved in. Once again, Finnish female phenomenon Enni Rukajärvi could not be topped by anyone and claimed victory. She blew away the competition, scoring a whopping 96.17, nearly 20 points ahead second place finisher, Lisa Wiik (NOR) and third place Sina Candrian (SUI). Enni’s winning run featured a cab-on to boardslide, followed by a gap to 50/50, into a frontside 360, a 50/50 on the downrail, followed by a 50/50 to indy along the wallride, nailing a smooth frontside 360 tailgrab, into a backside 540 indy, finishing with a big cab 720 mute.

R: Enni Rukajärvi, P: Jeff Patterson

Apparently, speed and visibility were big issues for the male finalists. Maybe Canadians Jon Versteeg and Robby Balharry knew how to cope with the local adversities and took home second and third place. However, it was Brett Esser, the second place finisher from semis, who stepped up his game to take home the win. Esser put down a run that started off with a cab-on to back 180 off, followed by a switch 50/50, into a frontside boardslide through the kink, followed by a backflip, to a 180-on to switch backside 180 out, followed by a boardslide to fakie along the wallride. Esser then dropped into the jump line pulling a switch backside 900 mute, followed by a backside 720 tailgrab over the channel, finishing with a massive frontside 1080 tailgrab.

R: Brett Esser, P: Jeff Patterson

Results Halfpipe Women

1 Kendall Brown NZL

2 Sarah Conrad CAN

3 Mercedes Nicoll CAN

Results Halfpipe Men

1 Iouri Podladtchikov SUI

2 Justin Lamoureux CAN

3 Markus Malin FIN

Results Slopestyle Women

1 Enni Rukajärvi FIN ROXY

2 Lisa Wiik NOR ROXY

3 Sina Candrian SUI BURTON

Results Slopestyle Men

1 Brett Esser USA OMATIC

2 Jon Versteeg CAN NOMIS

3 Robby Balharry CAN WESTBEACH

The Women's Slopestyle Podium including some big hats.

US Olympian Louie Vito training in Breckenridge. Photo: Cole Barash.

The majority of nations have made the final selection of who’ll go to Vancouver. See who’ll be flying the flag for you.

So there we were, tapping up our contacts at the various national snowboard organisations trying to get a definitive list of all the guys and girls who’ll be repping their countries in the pipe at the upcoming Olympics and, wouldn’t you know, our homies over at the Swatch TTR World Tour beat us to the punch. Thanks guys!

It must be said, it can often seem the selection process is more confusing than an algebra exam, with each country having different required criteria, and for the riders bidding to go it must certainly be a nerve-wracking experience waiting to see if all the points tally right and planets have aligned properly. But now, for most, the wait is over.

As ever there’s some big names who didn’t make it and some relative unknowns who did so, drum roll please, here’s who’s announced their pipe ninjas so far…

MEN

USA

Shaun White
Scotty Lago
Louie Vito
Greg Bretz

FINLAND

Peetu Piiroinen
Janne Korpi
Ilkka-Eemeli Laari
Markus Malin

FRANCE

Mathieu Crepel
Arthur Longo
Aluan Ricciardi
Gary Zebrowski

SWITZERLAND

Christian Haller
Iouri Podladtchikov
Markus Keller
Sergio Berger

NORWAY

Fredrik Austbø
Tore V. Holvik
Roger S. Kleivdal
Ståle Sandbech

CANADA

Jeff Batchelor
Justin Lamoureux
Brad Martin
Micheal Lambert

AUSTRALIA

Scott James
(15 year old youngest ever snowboarder to compete at a Winter Olympic Games.)
Ben Mates

GREAT BRITAIN

Ben Kilner

NEW ZEALAND

James Hamilton
Mitch Brown

GERMANY

Christophe Schmidt

WOMEN

USA

Gretchen Bleiler
Kelly Clark
Hannah Teter
Elena Hight

SWITZERLAND

Ursina Haller
Manuela Pesko

NORWAY

Kjersti Ø. Buaas
Linn Haug
Lisa H. Wiik

CANADA

Palmer Taylor
Sarah Conrad
Mercedes Nicolls

AUSTRALIA

Torah Bright

POLAND

Paulina Ligocka

NEW ZEALAND

Juliane Bray

Kendall Brown

Rebecca Sinclair

CZECH REPUBLIC

Sarka Pancochova

GREAT BRITAIN

Lesley McKenna

FRANCE

Sophie Rodriguez
Mirabelle Thovex

As you can see, Japan have yet to announce their team and they certainly have riders who can have a say in the final outcome, but them aside all the big hitters are accounted for. Check out over on the TTR webpage where you can see how those riders have been performing on the World Tour so you can have all the information possible when you head down the bookies’ to have a wee flutter.