Charles Reid

Riders from all over the World flocked to Andorra this weekend for the ninth Edition of the Grandvalira Total Fight. This year the Total Fight upgraded to 5 stars on the World Snowboard Tour making it one of the season’s most anticipated slopestyle events.

[Qualification highlights - Finals video to follow.]

This year’s slopestyle started off with a rail zone which consisted of a choice between a 6 metre rail or a rail king, followed by a down box with a 5 metre gap or a wallride, followed by the line of three kickers. All the riders had to show their best skills on the varying spring conditions to win the final prize.

Eric Willett

The weather was temperamental for today’s finals; a mixture of snow, rain, wind and sun accompanied the riders throughout the day. The 24 finalists were pitched against each other in pairs, with only two rounds to prove their skills and knock out their rivals. The pairing, which depended on the previous day’s scores, went as such: Janne Korpi against Seth Hill, Tor Lundstrom against Brage Richenberg, Jon Versteeg against Eric Willett, Jeremy Thompson against Charles Reid, Marco Grigis against Aleksi Partanen, Simon Gruber against Ville Uotila, Tyler Nicholson against Spencer Link, Ian Thorley against Eric Beauchemin, Peter Horak against Mans Hedberg, Robby Balharry against Nuuti Niemela, Kevin Backstrom against Simen Neraker and Kevin Kok against Markku Koski. The 12 riders who made it to the final were: Seth Hill, Brage Richenberg, Eric Willett, Charles Reid, Aleksi Partanen, Ville Uotila, Tyler Nicholson, Eric Beauchemin, Mans Hedberg, Nuuti Niemela, Kevin Backstrom and Kevin Kok.

Seth Hill

Thanks to mother nature’s shaky mood today, the weather got wilder and wilder making the visibilty close to zero, meaning that, despite the shapers hard work, the slopestyle was getting slower and the finalists couldn’t make it to the jumps. Just as it looked like the weather was getting her way and ending the Total Fight prematurely, the sun came out and the competition continued. Unfortunately, the tardiness meant that the judging system had to be changed and the 12 finalists only had two rounds to win the competition.

Kevin Backstrom

This year’s hands down Grandvalira Total Fight 2013 winner was the Canadian Charles Reid, who won with a spectacular round which started off with a Gap Front 270 Front Board followed by a Gap Front Boad to Fakie, Cab Double Cork Mute 900 and sweetly polished off with a Back Rodeo 5 Melon.

The American Willett came close to the Canadian with a round that started off with a Front 270 Front Board followed by a Front Board, Front Mute and finished by a Back Rodeo 5 Melon. Swedish star Kevin Backstrom came third with a solid run: a Gap Front Lip followed by a Backside 50-50 Front 180 Off, Cab 900 Melon and finished by a Back 720 Mute.

Charles Reid

22-year-old Charles Reid, a resident of Mont-Tremblant (Quebec, Canada) said:

“It feels pretty good to get up on the podium and win first prize, even more so when it’s a TTR event like this. I didn’t expect to win the competition but I had a lot of confidence in my tricks. The circuit was incredible, you could get a lot of speed, it was really good. I’ll be back next year for sure!”

The first fifteen winners shared 40.000 € of cash between them. The first three won 15.000 €, 10.000 € and 5.000 € respectively.

Winners podium

RESULTS

NAME / COUNTRY / SPONSOR / HIGHEST SCORE

1 – Charles Reid / CAN / Oakley / 84.67
2 – Eric Willett / USA / Vans / 82.33
3 – Kevin Backstrom / SWE / Nike / 73.33
4 – Eric Beauchemin / USA / DC / 69.00
5 – Tyler Nicholson / CAN / Lib Tech / 65.00
6 – Nuuti Niemela / FIN / Smith / 58.67
7 – Aleksi Partanen / FIN / Koli / 55.00
8 – Ville Uotila / FIN / Dye / 52.33
9 – Kevin Kok / ITA / Burn / 46.00
10 – Seth Hill / USA / Sims / 39.67
11 – Brage Richenberg / NOR / Sabotage / 31.67
12 – Mans Hedberg / SWE / DC / 28.33

Nuutti soars into first place.

The latest edition of the Total Fight Masters of Freestyle took over the Andorran resort of Grandvalira once more, and under epic bluebird skies Finnish rider Nuutti Niemelä bagged the win.

Spring sessions always rule, and the Burton & San Miguel Total Fight Masters of Freestyle held in the Andorran resort of Grandvalira was no exception this year, offering the highest quality of riding, burning sunshine, fresh snow and a cheering crowd to keep spirits high.

Kim Rune Hansen

The Coliflor Freestyle shapers spent the previous week carving magic into the slopestyle’s five modules, starting with a 10 metre long rail followed by an impressive San Miguel lookalike 2 metres by 4,5 metres “can” and polished off by 3 massive crowd pleaser kickers.

Big tricks ruled the day, with only 16 riders out of the original 31 qualifying through to the second round. The Norwegian Team Burton rider Kim Rune Hansen, who recently came second in the WSC Quaterpipe, dominated the first round with a Switch FS Slide on the first rail, followed by a Switch 50 to BS 180 Out on the San Miguel “can” and neatly polished off with a perfect FS 7 Melon on the first kicker, a super stylish BS 5 Mute on the second and a Switch FS 9 on the last.

The setup. Not too shabby.

To go through to the next round, each rider was paired against another, with only one rider per pair making it through. The pairings were as follows: Kim Rune Hansen against Spaniard Carles Turner, Finnish rider Valtteri Paunonen against the Norwegian Joachim Krogstie, Finn Hanri Lakkonen against the Argentinean Santi Gamen (who actually hurt himself and chose to be paired against the Spaniard Albert Piñol), Finnish rider Ville Paumola against the Spaniard Isaac Vergés, German rider Patrick Cinca against the Argentinean Facundo Vial, Finn Roni Rintale against the Argentinean rider Nico Fuentes, Finnish rider Ville Uotila against the Argentinean rider Mattias Schmitt and finally the Finnish rider Nuuti Niemela was paired against his fellow countryman Tommi Rokolampi.

After an intense battle on the slopes only 8 riders were left to compete for the finals, with Kim Rune Hansen seeming to lead the pack with a Switch FS Slide followed by a 50/50 and a BS 7 Tailgrab, BS Rodeo Mute finished and a Switch BS Melon on the last three kickers. For this round, Hansen was paired against Patrick Cinca, Nuuti Niemela against Ville Uotila, Hanri Lakkonen against Ville Paumola and Valtteri Paunonen was paired against the Argentinean rider and Grandvalira local Nico Fuentes.

Patrick Cinca

Knowing that they had nothing left to lose to get to the finals, the remaining 8 riders pulled out their best tricks, Nuuti Niemela especially surprised everyone with his inspired BS Double Cork on the last kicker, effectively eliminating the undefeated champion of the last few Total Fight’s, Ville Uotila.

The finals of any competition are the real nail biters, and the 2012 Total Fight was no exception, with three Finnish riders, Paumola, Niemela, Paunonen and one German, Cinca, preparing to fight it out on the grounds of the scorching El Tarter Snowpark.

Each rider had three chances to outshine each other, and the crowd wasn’t complaining, but it was finally the Finnish rider Nuuti Niemela who stole the day with a spectacular FS Lipslide on the rail, followed by a 50 to 180 out on the San Miguel “can”, a Cab 9 Stalefish on the first kicker, an FS 10 on the second and a BS Doble Cork 12 on the last kicker. There was simply no doubt, Nuuti Niemela is 2012’s new king of the Total Fight Masters of Freestyle.

Podium

Nuuti Niemela, one of the top 8 world slopestyle riders told us: “I love this event, it’s one of my favourites. I’m so stoked with my round, the Slopestyle was so good and you had to get lots of speed to do good tricks. I’m really happy to be here”. Ville Paumola placed second, followed by Patrick Cinca and Valtteri Paunonen in fourth position.

For this edition of the Total Fight, the riders split 14.000 Euros between them, 7000 for the first, 4000 for the second, 2000 for the third and 1000 for the fourth. The party, of course, went off with the Total Fight Night Jibbing and the San Miguel Night Music – Flaix FM party, with the amazing Crappy Tuesdays Dj’s ripping it up.

www.totalfightmasters.com

This 4 star TTR event will go down from March 21-24 2012 in Grandvalira’s El Tarter snowpark. Here’s from highlights from season’s past, plus some bangs.

Total Fight is an invitational international competition presented by Burton and Red Bull directed to the best riders in the international scene who fight in a battle for the best style in the El Tarter snowpark, one of Europe’s best areas for freestyle action.

Snowboarders around the world come to Grandvalira to ride, shoot, and enjoy Total Fight’s atmosphere, with parties, jibbing and and the andorran/spanish unique riding.

Jamie Phillp

Joachim Krosgtie

Matias Radelli

www.totalfightmasters.com

In it’s 6th year, Grandvalira’s Spring freestyle treat, the Total Fight masters of Freestyle, is back for another whirlwind 4 days of the top snowboarding, sun and music in the small principality of Andorra, in the heart of the Pyrenees. Held in one of the most well known snowparks in Southern Europe, this year promises, once again, to be a sight for sore eyes.

The Total Fight is an international competition for invited riders from all over the world. This year, several major snowboarding names have already confirmed their presence, including:

Ville Uotila (Finland), Ulrik Baderstcher (Norway), Joachim Krogstie (Norway), Nuuti Niemela (Finland), Blayze Bramwell (Sweden), Jaakko Ruha (Finland), Michi Sanschitz (Austria), Victor Delerrue (France), Matti Kinunen (Finland), Janne Lipsanen (Finland), Miguel Moreno (Spain), Nico Fuentes (Argentina), Matías Radaelli (Argentina). As well as various members of the Burton international team, ready to give it all to win this year’s Total Fight.

The top class slopestyle will consist of 2 varying lines with a combination of rails and kickers for riders to pick the best line to show off their skills. It’s important for each rider to pick an original and challenging line to shine and therefore push their opponent out of the competition.

Line 1, the Big Jump:

The premium big air line is the hardest line with a 20 metre Big Jump, followed by a very technical 18-metre transfer and polished off by a rail.

Line 2, the central line:

The central line is both spectacular and technical, combining big jumps with jibbing

The line starts at the level of the half pipe, although the latter won’t be visible since the shapers will be filling it with snow for the competition and it will instead become a spectacular gap to box. Next on the line is a stunner of a kicker, all of 16 metres, but it doesn’t quite do justice to the all imposing kicker that follows it, a monster that kicks the rider up into the air and allows them to pull their best tricks. This impressive run is finished by another 16-metre kicker and finally a gnarly, technical rail.

The snowboarding competition will start on Saturday the 26th; Training will take place from 10:30h till 11:30h and the expression session part of the slopestyle, from which riders will be selected for the grand final, will take place from 12h until 14h. The grand final will start at 14:30h and go on until 16:30h, by which point the winner will have made himself known. Prize giving starts at 16:30h.

As well as the Swatch TTR points that the riders will accumulate in the competition, the winners will share 18.000 € worth of prize money.

This year’s programme for the 2011 Total Fight Masters of Freestyle:

Programme:
Friday 25^th of March: Snowboarding classificatory
- 11h00 a to 13h00 Snowboarding classificatory
- 21h00 Total Fight party in Nemo’s

Saturday 26th of March:

- 10h30 a 11h30 Snowboard training
- 12h00 a 14h00 Expression Session Snowboarding
- 14h30 a 16h30 Total Fight Snowboarding
- 16h30 Prize giving
- 17h00 a 19h00 Red Bull sponsored demonstration by BMX flatland champion Vicky Gomez followed by an acrobatic parapont demonstration

- 19h00 a 21h00 Night Jibbing Total Fight Snowboarding
- 21h00 a 01h00 San Miguel Night Music Total Fight: The Pinker Tones, The Right Ons and Crappy Tuesday

More info on:

http://www.totalfightmasters.com