Swanson, Liu Lead Burton NZ Open Open Qualifiers
July 30, 2008 – 2:01 am PT by GregTags: Burton, New Zealand Open —
A large field of competitors lined up Wednesday at the Burton New Zealand Open to battle for a spot in the halfpipe semi-finals later this week. When it was all said and done the USA’s Brennen Swanson led the men while China’s Jiayu Liu led the field for the women.
Ryo Aono, Chas Guldemond, Luke Mitrani, Kelly Clark and Ellery Hollingsworth are among the snowboarders prequalified for the semis in the halfpipe, while Tim Humphreys, Jamie Anderson and Spencer O’Brien are set for slopestyle. The slopestyle open qualifers will take place on Thursday.
Keep reading for more about the day’s action and check out the official site for more.
BURTON NZ OPEN 2008 TAKES OFF
LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (July 30, 2008) – Day one of the sixth annual Burton NZ Open at Snow Park NZ today saw a varied field of young, and not so young, athletes all vying for a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals alongside some of the world’s best snowboarders.
Ranging in age from 10-year-old Seamus O’Connor to 62-year-old Dick Schulze, both from the USA, the field was diverse for today’s qualifiers, including a large number of strong riders whose performance will set them in good stead against the invited riders in on Saturday.
“Top men’s qualifier, Brennen Swanson (USA) put down a really big, clean run, held all his grabs, never sketched and basically rode the way you need to in a competition of this caliber,” said judge, Ste’en Webster.
Swanson’s run featured a method air, followed by a frontside 900, backside 540, frontside 720, Cab 7 (switch frontside 720), finishing with a Crippler (frontside inverted 540).
The women’s field was dominated by Jiayu Liu (CHN) who put down an extremely strong run that would have turned heads in the men’s field. She got massive amplitude on every hit, holding it for the entire run which included a huge frontside air followed by an equally big backside air, frontside 540 to backside 540 mute grab, a frontside 360, finishing with a Cab 3 melon. 2008 is the first year the Chinese National Team has entered the Open with all three women and one of the two men qualifying for the semi-finals.
Paula Mitchell (Wanaka) was the only New Zealander to qualify and will join fellow Kiwis Juliane Bray, Kendall Brown, Mitchell Brown, Ben Stewart and James Hamilton, all of whom are invited pre-ranked riders.
Neither the youngest nor the eldest competitor made it through the qualifiers although O’Connor received a very respectable 35.33 against a field twice his age. For Schulze, who has traveled the world competing in the Burton Global Open Series, this is his sixth Open event in under a year.
The Burton NZ Open continues tomorrow with the men’s and women’s slopestyle qualifiers. For further information and full results visit www.opensnowboarding.com.
2008 Burton New Zealand Open
July 20, 2008
Halfpipe Qualifications Men- Results
Heat 1
1 Brennen Swanson USA RIDE
2 Xiaoye Zeng CHN —
3 Keito Kumazaki JPN BONFIRE
4 Yohei Okamura JPN MOSS
5 Elliot Catton CAN SAPIENT
6 Samuel Cullum GBR ARCUS
7 Kosuke Hosokawa JPN BONFIRE
8 Scott James AUS QUIKSILVER
9 Sage Kotsenburg USA QUIKSILVER
Halfpipe Qualifications Men- Results
Heat 2
1 Mitch Allan AUS GRENADE
2 Shuhei Sato JPN GRAY
3 Jin Wook Jung KOR BURTON
4 Sergey Tarasov RUS ANON
5 Christopher Waker USA BURTON
6 Josh Duncan CAN SENTURY
7 Nathan Johnstone AUS 32 SNOWBOARD
8 Andrew Stern USA ANALOG
9 Kevin Bronckaers BEL ROME
10 Makoto Murayama JPN FLOW
Halfpipe Qualifications Women- Results
1 Jiayu Liu CHN —
2 Zhifeng Sun CHN —
3 Mizuki Naho JPN ROSSIGNOL
4 Xu Chen CHN —
5 Mayu Ishibashi JPN YONEX
6 Ryoko Iijima JPN MOSS
7 Shiho Nakashima JPN ADIDAS
8 Asuko Miyake JPN GRAY
9 Rie Yoshizawa JPN MOSS
10 Paula Mitchell NZE NITRO
11 Charmaine Ironside CAN BURTON
12 Lesley McKenna GBR ROXY
13 Faye Gulini USA OAKLEY
14 Andrea Schuler SUI FLOW
Invited Riders
Men’s Halfpipe:
Ryo Aono (JPN)
Mitch Brown (NZE)
Chas Guldemond (USA)
Markus Malin (FIN)
Stephan Mauer (SUI)
Luke Mitrani (USA)
Charles Reid (CAN)
James Hamilton (NZE)
Men’s Slopestyle
Sani Alibabic (AUT)
Mikkel Bang (NOR)
Mitch Brown (NZE)
Marko Grilc (SLO)
Sebastien Toutant (CAN)
Chris Sorman (SWE)
Tim Humphreys (USA)
Ville Uotila (FIN)
Jaakko Ruha (FIN)
Keegan Valaika (USA)
Janne Korpi (FIN)
Women’s Halfpipe
Juliane Bray (NZE)
Kendall Brown (NZE)
Sina Candrian (SUI)
Kelly Clark (USA)
Ellery Hollingsworth (USA)
Women’s Slopestyle
Jamie Anderson (USA)
Spencer O’Brien (CAN)
