Win this and Coach Thunder's orders will be 'Don't do what Halldor did!'

This kid’s the nuts and, should it be up your street, you can now have a pop at winning Halldor Helgason’s unicorn blood-stained World Snowboarding Championships contest bib. Get involved…

Sadly the recent WSC was not to be for Icelandic buck Halldor Helgason. Not totally unexpected, truth be told, as he’ll tell you himself that he’s just as likely to come in dead last as he is to come first in contests. Unfortunately it was the latter this time for HH, and despite Coach Thunder’s instructions to “Don’t do what the Norwegians did,” he in fact did just that and even went one step further by spannering his ankle going all Lobster flip on the last hit.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and so while Halldor was chilling in Monaco, sipping on Martinis and having his ankle attended to by topless midgets we snuck in and nabbed his bib. We’re gonna give it away to you ’cause you love it. Answer this to enter…

[competition_57]

Our mate Drew Stevenson is on the ground in Oslo to lead you through what’s going down at the inaugural World Snowboarding Championships. Day 1 of qualifiers went down with 4 spots claimed off the bat, but a further 10 ‘lucky losers’ making the cut too. Check out how it’s breaking down and come back tomorrow for more of Drew’s insight. We must say we have no idea how he manages to rattle off those number so fast.

Here's Terje breaking records back in 2007. Will he or anyone else go bigger this time round? Photo: TTR

The WSC Quarterpipe contest will go down in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Friday 17th February, and they’ve just announced the list of riders who’ll be sending it to outer space. Here they are…

Quartepipe comps used to be fairly commonplace till a few years back when they kind of dropped off the map a little. Now the WSC are bringing it back with a vengeance to Oslo, and bossman Terje Håkonsen – who, don’t forget, holds the current World Record Highest Air at 9.8m – will be booting it along with the other riders deemed to have the minerals to tackle a 10m-high ice sculpture. As a reminder of the good old days, here’s Terje’s mental voyage into the outer reaches of Norwegian airspace in 2007.

Should be kind of a big deal…

WSC QUARTERPIPE START LIST

Risto Mattila FIN
Broc Waring USA
Matt Ladley USA
Kim Rune Hansen NOR
Shayne Pospisil USA
Benji Farrow USA
Arthur Longo FRA
Olivier Gittler FRA
Jack Mitrani USA
Brennen Swanson USA
Manuel Pietropoli ITA
Terje Haakonsen NOR
Daisuke Murakami JPN
Ruiki Masuda JPN

TTR and WSF are pleased to announce the confirmed rider field for the World Snowboarding Championships taking place February 10th-19th in Oslo, Norway.

Over 200 men and women from over 25 countries around the world, including 3-times TTR World Tour winners Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) and Jamie Anderson (USA), 2012 X-Games winners Mark McMorris and Torstein Horgmo (NOR) as well as Olympic gold medallist Kelly Clark (USA), will compete for the Slopestyle and Halfpipe World Champion 2012 titles and $500,000 in total prize money.

With this immensely strong gathering of athletes in competitive snowboarding, spectators around the globe can expect a massive dose of action in the halfpipe and on the slopestyle course. More than a 100 independent TV stations will broadcast the WSC worldwide. TTR Pro Snowboarding, World Snowboard Federation and the WSC organizers in Oslo are pleased to welcome the athletes to the first World Snowboarding Championships for snowboarders by snowboarders since 1999.

A final round of Wildcards for influential riders, who weren’t able to qualify through competition in the past year, were handed to: Olivier Gittler and Arthur Longo from France to enter the Halfpipe contest. The Women’s Halfpipe contest sees Elena Hight (USA) join the start field.

The confirmed riders have been anticipating the World Snowboarding Championships for over a year now and can’t wait to drop in and ride the world-class Slopestyle course and Halfpipe. ‘The WSC is the most prestigious competition in Freestyle snowboarding in 2012, and I am very honored to be a part of it. We have all been focusing on this the whole season, it’s that time to show your stuff’ says Belgian Seppe Smits.

Hosting country Norway will warmly welcome many of their favorites in the Oslo Vinter Park Arena, such as Torstein Horgmo, Gjermund Braaten and Stale Sandbech in the men’s field, and Kjersti Ostgaard-Buaas, Silje Norendal and Linn Haug in the Women’s competition.

Henning Andersen, event director: ‘Oslo is ready for the action: The snowpark is in good condition and the final phase of the shaping process has started. The city of Oslo is welcoming everyone to the biggest sports event in 2012.’

The complete overview of all confirmed athletes can be found at: www.wsc2012.com

The guys at the rapidly-approaching World Snowboard Championships, which will kick off it’s first ever edition in Oslo come February 2012, have recently announced the prize purse and how it’ll be broken down. Half-a-million greenbacks? Oh yes…

As the snowboarding calendar is an increasing nightmare for the athletes, the limited prize money purses makes it hard for most competitive snowboarders to make a decent living. The World Snowboarding Championships (WSC) aims to offer the best arenas, the best riders and the highest prize money. Half a million dollars is on the table and the prize money spread goes deep so more riders can enjoy it.

“We are not anywhere near other global supersports as tennis or golf, but we are making the first steps. There´s so much risk involved in snowboarding now, and the competitive top level is as high as in any other sports. We hope the WSC can be a kickstart symbol for how good snowboarding can be when its run by snowboarders. The WSC titles are most important to the riders, but prize money is crucial to bring more riders to the pro level,” says Chas Guldemond of We Are Snowboarding (WAS).

Each contest in the WSC will pay out 100,000 dollars (halfpipe men & women, slopestyle men & women and quarterpipe), starting with 40,000 dollars for first prize and paying all the way down to the 20th spot (all semi-finalist will get paid).

“We have created the prize money spread together with WAS and the riders, and they clearly want deeper spreads so more people can get a return on the risks they are taking. Back in the 70s, when the best tennis players realized they needed more pro competitors, the increased prize money was pivotal in dramatically raising the level of the whole sport. We can learn from Bjørn Borg and his peers,” says Henning Andersen, CEO of the WSC.

PRIZE MONEY SPREAD

1st place 40 000 USD
2nd place 20 000 USD
3rd place 10 000 USD
4th place 5 000 USD
5th place 3 500 USD
6th place 3 000 USD
7th place 2 500 USD
8th place 2 000 USD
9th place 2 000 USD
10th place 2 000 USD
11th – 20th place 1 000 USD