5 to Watch at the Burton European Open
Jan 17 2007 / Los Angeles, CABurton European Open 20th-27th January 2007, Laax, Switzerland
After a phenomenal start to the contest season, it looks like snowboarding's next major comp is lined up and ready to fire. The Burton European Open has a rider list 450 strong, including virtually all the winners from this year's hotly fought comps (The Air and Style, Red Bull's Nanshan Open in China, Tokyo's Nissan X-Trial and The O'Neill Evolution?). Needless to say, it looks like this year, that TTR ranking system is gonna produce one hell of a World Champion, and while it might be too early to tell who that's going to be, the BEO should give some riders a decent heads up in the points. With just over a week to go before the contest off-loads its poncho and has a serious shot of Tequila (Mexico is the general theme for the comp), we dived into the start list to see who's likely to upset the apple cart. Senior.
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What can you say? He missed the event last year due to Olympic preparations, and he won't be riding in the pipe contest (just slopestyle) because he's gotta rush back to defend his X-Games title, but only a fool would dismiss the world's most consistent snowboarder at what is probably the biggest remaining contest he's never won. Yup - he got a bit of a beating at the Air and Style slopestyle (he told the BBC that he could hardly compete with Travis Rice and David Benedek laying down their double-corked 1260's because he'd been so focussed on his pipe riding) but that's the thing with Shaun - the man feeds off poor results and has a pretty solid track record of stepping it up when he needs to. God knows where he's been since Mid-December, but if it was a NASA training camp with zero-g facilities would anyone be that surprised? We expect him to come out of the blocks hungry, slobbering maybe, and looking for revenge. Maybe that's the reason he's always got the face mask on? We don't know.
Antti Autti
Finland has a couple of incredible pipe riders at the moment in the shape of Risto Matilla, Janne Korpi and Markku Koski, but it's arguably the incredible talent of Antti Autti who has proved to be the most consistent - and most exciting - of the Finns in the contest arena. And while they may have lagged behind in last year's TTR rankings - probably due to some awkward results and a natural shyness under the Olympic gaze - when it comes to a pure snowboard contest, Antti is always willing to let his riding be heard from the rooftops. And what confidence going into the event: with a first place at the O'Neill Evolution on the 5th January, Antti knows he's at the top of his game. "Scoring my first TTR win means so much to me," he said at the Davos comp, "and nailing an inverted frontside 10 in competition for the first time was awesome." Autti goes into the Burton European Open with a certain swagger to his stride being the current TTR World Rankings leader.
Nicholas Mueller
Not far behind him though is Switzerland's Nicholas Mueller. Always a crowd favourite, due to his un-compromising riding and crowd-pleasing antics, Mueller knows his way round both a decent superpipe and a good old fashioned slopestyle course. If he can reign it in, and avoid any bad crashes like the one he took at December's X-Trail event in Tokyo, then he's got a good chance of taking either discipline. If he goes all out for the win of course, it'll make for the most exciting riding of the event, which is why we reckon you should keep your peelers on him. Just cross your fingers and squint. Come on Nico! Come on!!!
David Benedek
Germany's MVP and the most hard-working man in snowboarding looks set to hit the BEO running. He's already landed the first ever double-corked 1260 in competition (at December's Air and Style in Munich), but he failed to nail one during the final rounds and was pipped by US rider Travis Rice at the last minute. David naturally comes to the contest with an axe to grind, and may the sparks fly. We know he's got an impressive bag of tricks to unleash on the site, whether he'll land them all is one thing, and it'll certainly make for interesting viewing, so stay tuned to check out if the world's first double-corked 1260 in a contest final is the headline that dominates the 2007 BEO. And if that's not a treat I don't know what is.
Cheryl Maas
Last year's TTR World Champion, and all-round Dutch legend Cheryl comes to the BEO with quite an attitude. Her contest results so far have lacked consistency, but then last years results were a hit and miss affair too. Who cares? Along with the UK's Jenny Jones, Cheryl is by far the most exciting rider in the girls division, mixing 7,'s 9's and difficult lines into her slopestyle repertoire and never afraid to try something new mid run. At the 2006 BEO Cheryl caught an edge on the way up the biggest kicker line, producing the loudest 'ooohh' of the contest. Yup she slammed hard, but when she hiked back up to re-claim her run, the cheer from the crowd was by far the biggest of the entire contest. While we hope she doesn't repeat the incident, it's that kind of showmanship and spirit that Cheryl brings to every contest and the 2007 event shouldn't be any different. Plus she's punk as you like.
