Record height and distance! Motorcycle flies 95 m high over distance of 85 m Australian stunt Motocrosser Robbie Maddison not only jumped over the 85-metre wide Corinth Canal at height of nearly 100 metres in Greece on Thursday, but he also had a bigger hurdle to overcome: fear. CORINTH (Greece). Motocross Freestyle, with breathtaking tricks such as flips performed at heights of up to three storeys high, is one the world’s most dangerous sports. Robbie Maddison is one of the world’s best in FMX. But that is not enough for the 28-year-old Australian. Maddison is always looking for even greater thrills and has completed a number of spectacular jumps that would have made pioneering stuntman Evel Knievel proud. In 2007 and 2008 Maddison set three world records for distance all the way to 107 metres (350 feet). In 2009 he celebrated New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas by jumping up 30 metres onto the Arc de Triomph in front of Paris Las Vegas and then descended off the monument to ground level. Last year pictures of him jumping the Tower Bridge over the Thames River with a backflip while the drawbridge was open went around the world. Many Motocrossers have wanted to jump across the Corinth Canal, which was built in 1893. But the Australian was the first to succeed. He sped his Honda 500 up through a turn-filled approach past a pool, across a soccer pitch and past a chicken coop to a speed of 125 km/h. On Thurday morning he accelerated up a ramp over the canal some 80 metres below and landed safely on a mound set up on the other side of the canal. At his apogee Maddison was 95 metres above the canal’s surface. Maddison said getting the approach right despite the constantly changing surfaces – from grass to concrete to wood to asphalt again and then carpet – was difficult enough but there was greater hurdle to the jump: “Overcoming fear, that’s always the hardest part,“ Maddison said. “Maddo“ will travel straight from Greece to Mexico City for the season opener of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour. Maddison was second overall last year and aims to win the title this year.

He’s the biggest name in snowboarding, the
kid who won Olympic gold at just 19. But for Shaun White the challenge never stops. He’s aiming to raise the bar even higher by creating new tricks at a special secret training ground

It isn’t hard to pick out Shaun White from the small coterie of pro-snowboarders being ushered through the entrance

of Burton’s flagship SoHo outlet in New York. While the others, all branded hoodies, oversized jeans and retro sneakers, are ushered quietly to a table at the back of the store to take their places for a signing session, White’s entrance is a little less low-key, a little more Hollywood.
Lit by the acid glare of two lighting crews and framed by the curious backward shuffle of three cameramen, White, wearing black skinny jeans, blazer and crisp white shirt, is immediately set upon by a trio of willowy PR girls. Clipboards are produced, names are checked, photographers herded towards the side of the signing area. Space is made beside White’s end-of-the-line spot for CBS, NBC and the other TV channels here to grab some time with snowboarding’s biggest star.
White is oblivious. He slips into his seat beside fellow pros Mads Jonsson and Kelly Clark and after taking a careful, and eventually approving, look at the image of himself on the stack of posters in front of him, he looks up at the first kid to walk the line and smiles. The camera lights immediately flare again, lenses zooming in on the blushing kid, who thrusts a freshly purchased DVD under White’s nose.
“You’re my idol, man,” the kid blurts, whatever opening gambit he’d carefully rehearsed deserting him.“Thanks,” says White with another smile, “and your name is…?” The line keeps moving, each one grabbing as much time as possible with White, each relating anecdotes of the first time theysaw White or the last time they met.

A middle-aged dad tries to sneak back into the White end of the line for a third time, a kid-sized board under his arm
for signing. Security gently admonishes him to give some other kids a chance. Argentinian Alex Ruiz emerges from the scrum of camera crews and photographers, clutching a faded pennant emblazoned with White’s name and now with a newly minted autograph.
“He’s incredible,” he grins. “He’s achieved so much in such a short time.
I don’t know what it is about him…he’s a very inspiring dude.”
In the midst of it all White keeps smiling, keeps signing. It is what it is.
But it’s different from how it used to be, different even from a few short years ago. Then, White was still a star, though in a comparatively small firmament. Four years ago, at the Turin Olympics, that all changed. While the major TV networks were following established flag-bearers such as skier Bode Miller, White suddenly exploded into public consciousness, an almost flawless final half-pipe run landing him gold at age 19.

The crossover was immediate. While his contemporaries continued to channel the sport’s core sponsors into career success, White became an overnight industry, trading niche overachievement for mainstream sports superstardom, his image used to launch clothing lines for US superstore Target, his face fronting campaigns for American Express and Hewlett Packard, and his signature splattered across the covers of posters, books, DVDs, video games.
Where once White was ‘The Flying Tomato’, a preternaturally gifted but slightly goofy flame-haired kid new to the tour and marking his territory, he’s now snowboarding’s elder statesman.

At just 23, White carries the image of his sport on his shoulders. He’s spokesman, champion, poster boy and, for all his competitors, a very visible target.
It’s a position he understands. “It’s a cool situation to be in,” he acknowledges. “I’m no longer the underdog guy. NowI have the pressure of people expecting me to do things, expecting me to be the best. It does push you to go further, to really be that guy.
“If everyone’s betting on me to do well there has to be a reason, they must believe in me and you can’t back down from that,” he says.
“Which, I suppose, is why the Silverton thing came about.”There isn’t much to Silverton, at least during the summer. There’s fishing, good hiking, mountain-bike trails. You can ride the narrow-gauge railway of this old mining village to nearby Durango if you’re of a mind. In fact, on the surface, there isn’t much to Silverton in the winter either, unless you know what you’re looking for. When White came here in April, he knew exactly what he was looking for – reinvention.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt that I’ve levelled off, I’ve always felt there was more to come,” he says, thinking for a moment about his motivations for a simple idea that eventually came to be known as Red Bull Project X.
“I’m winging it in a sense. I feel like I’ve got… I dunno, maybe I’ve just got more confidence in how I’m winging it.
I have more accuracy in how I do it, now I’m calculating how I wing it.”
The gut instinct and the urge to move forward is what led White to Silverton.
A vague idea to head to this tiny, pristine backcountry Colorado ski area to shoot some film was transformed when Red Bull approached White with a different plan – a private half-pipe, a place to work on something new and, to assist in that, a foam pit, constructed at the
end of the pipe into which White could safely dump all the ideas that had been fizzing in his mind for months.For the company, it was a massive commitment, both financially and philosophically. While never risk-averse in pushing the boundaries of sporting extremes, the idea of constructing a 3000m-high backyard playpen for a single member of its athletes’ club

– Takin to being asked by a racing driver for a private racetrack – was emblematic of both White’s status as an elite sports star and also his sport’s transition from teenage rampage to billion-dollar industry. The Snowsport Industry of America’s participation statistics showing that in 2004 half a million
more snowsport visits were by snowboarders than skiers at US resorts. The figure has fluctuated since, as improved ski design has given the sport back cachet, but with upwards of six million boarders now riding US slopes, investing in White was irresistible.
But not an easy desire to sate. Silverton, while not exactly remote, is no Vail or Aspen. Access to the single chairlift, deep-powder area is tricky.
“There’s nowhere else in north America like it,” explains Aaron Brill, the man who developed the snowboard-specific mountain nine years ago. “It’s all expert powder. We restrict the number of riders on any given day. On a busy day here we’ll have 80 riders, Vail might have 8000. It’s designed for people who love to ride. There’s no easy way down.”
And no easy way in either. After weeks of heli-bombing the mountain with 11kg charges to flood the area chosen for the half-pipe with avalanche debris, pipe specialists Snow Park Technologies began the onerous task of shaping what would become White’s proving ground.
“It was a big ask,” says Snow Park Technologies’ Corley Howard. “It took six or seven days to build, with three CATs running 12-, 14-, maybe 16-hour shifts.” And then came the foam pit, to be erected at the bottom end of the pipe, a 30ft (9m) long, 20ft (6m) wide cushion into which White could pour all his creativity.“The pit itself was 8000lb (3.6t tonnes) of steel,” adds Snow Park boss Frank Wells. “The ski area is seven miles from town, so in the end, after
the build, we had to drag it up there on a loader with skids, during a snowstorm. It was the only way.”
Until Project X, foam pits had been the preserve of skateboarding and motocross, a soft-landing incubator
for new tricks, a risk-free testbed. In snowboarding, it had never been tried.

“The benefits were huge,” admits White. “Normally if you go to somewhere like Park City (Utah) in the half-pipe, the sun hits one wall in the morning and the other wall in the evening, and if I want to learn a trick on one wall, when it’s not all icy and pretty gnarly, I have to wait until a particular time of day, but by that time of day every member of the public has been through there. And it’s snow; it’s not concrete or wood. It’s snow, it melts and changes and it becomes sloppy and you can’t even ride the thing.
“That was an amazing thing not to have to contend with. I could go ‘Wow, I’m just going to take my time today and hang out until one o’clock when I want to hit the wall,’ and then I could just go out and do what I wanted to do.”

If there’s been one criticism levelled at the prodigy in the past, it’s been a lack of invention, his ability to link existing tricks into judge-pleasing runs deflecting from an absence of innovation.
“I think some people have questioned whether Shaun has been an innovator
in his career up to now,” admits US Olympic snowboard coach Bud Keene. “He certainly has done everything that anyone has ever done way better and bigger than anyone, and in that way he has pushed the sport. But an innovator? Not up until now. Now he is. The things he’s doing now are definitely pushing the sport further and faster that it’s ever been pushed… and it looks awesome.”
It’s an analysis White, surprisingly, concurs with. “I definitely feel that. There’s four different ways of spinning in snowboarding, the regular way, the back-side way and then switch regular
and back, which are kind of like hitting lefty if your right-handed. I remember putting those all together into one run and it was like, ‘Wow we can’t believe
he put all that in one run’, but those had all been done before.
“Really, I was just very good at taking all those tricks and mastering them, putting my own stamp on them sure, but they had been done. My talent I guess was being able to nail them, put them together in a run and land them all the time and not make mistakes.”
In Silverton, for the first time White would go further, attempting to push not just his boundaries, but those of the sport.
“I remember attempting these tricks and the first ones were just hideous! I had it in my mind that I would do a full flip and then rotate this way or that and then add something else and I was just completely wrong. It was just awful.
“So I had to completely redo all the rotations and figure out how they worked. I had a wish list in my mind
of the kind of tricks I wanted to do, just wondering what if? What if I kept flipping, what if I added another element. And then you start thinking, well, is there a way to land it?
“That was the luxury of the foam pit, because you would never try it otherwise, you would just beyond hurt yourself.”
After the high tech of the pit build, the crucial element ended up being the lowest tech of all – a thin line of plastic tape stretched across the middle of the foam. “If I was on the other side I was in. But then the question was ‘how far in?’ because you don’t want to go too far, that’s dangerous. But with this I could know every time if I was in that ‘money’ zone.” The money shots arrived quicker than expected, despite the fear of taking the tricks out of the relative comfort zone of the pit and onto the half-pipe for real.
“Man, I was terrified,” he admits. “It could have been all over. All it would have taken was for me to throw the trick and panic halfway through it. I would have severely hurt myself. I know from past experience of learning tricks that you have to commit yourself totally or
it will be bad. The first one I went for it was ‘flip, flip’ and I hit my butt and I was so relieved, just sitting there thinking, ‘Oh, man, it worked, I got out of it unscathed.’ That gave me so much confidence. I knew it was going to work. It just snowballed after that – a trick a day.”
White stands up now, demonstrating the rotations, rattling out the names
of the new moves and then pauses, frowning slightly. “You know, this is definitely the first time I’ve taken the initiative to learn something totally
new and it feels great. Forever, I’ll be the first one to do these tricks.“I can’t describe how it felt the first time I landed the front-side double-cork 1080,” a new trick and I was sitting there just shaking. I knew right then it was something special. I was so excited.” he says. “I’d done it, I’d invented
So much so that the debut of a couple couldn’t wait. In August, White took his new creations to the New Zealand Open, blitzing the finals with revolutionary back-to-back double-cork 1080s and stringing together a run described by the event organisers as some of “best and most progressive riding ever witnessed”.
On the cusp of another tilt at Olympic gold, it’s exactly where White wants to be. “I really had to psych myself up to attempt these things. I’d hold my breath and try it, but now it’s just something that just feels part of my run. I think that maybe that’s the difference between me and other guys. I don’t just want to do the trick; I want to have it as mine. I don’t feel comfortable just saying I can do the trick, I want to own it. Having that going to the Olympics is a great feeling.”

White went to his first Olympics asa nascent star and emerged a commodity, traded into something possibly greater than the sport he arguably now defines. With that comes the pressure to repeat the feat. The secrecy surrounding his Silverton experiments has only served to balloon that expectation. He, though, is unmoved by the weight of expectation.
“If there’s an increase in pressure now, it’s fine,” he insists. “To be honest, I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t
in that same position. I don’t ever remember being at a competition andnot being one of the guys to beat, so
I don’t feel that there’s more of a burden now. It’s good for me to feel that too, always feeling that I’m a threat to the competition and if not the guy, then
one of the guys to watch out for.”

In the end, what White was doingwas returning to the core of who he is as a sportsman, and that has given him a platform he never thought possible.
“So many people do this and losesight of what it was that put them in that position,” he insists. “I don’t think I’m the kind of the person to take myeye off the ball, the real prize. It is sucha beautiful thing to go back to that.
I’m a snowboarder, that’s what I do. It was fantastic that the original thing that brought me here was what underwent the most dramatic change. Because I’m good at this sport. I do this on a level that very few other people can do it at. “Now I sit back and think: ‘Hmmm, y’know, if I had that foam pit again… knowing what I know now, then this what I’d really like to do...’”

For more about Shaun White, slide
over to www.shaunwhite.com

Words: Justin Hynes Photography: Adam Moran

 

Att kitesporten har växt igenom åren är knappast någon nyhet eller ens en tillfällighet. Utan en naturlig utveckling av de alternativa sporterna som

sätter lite piff på vardagen. Vinter eller snö kite är väl besläktad vågkite som har ett starkt förankrat  till skillnad från snökiten som är lite färskare. Fördelarna är många med vinterkiting, dels så är du oberoende av lift du kan göra om fjället till en lekplats helt oberoende av pister. Gillar du att åka fort så kan du använda varje kvadratmeter av de miltals vidder som breder ut sig över kalfjället.

Lastade bilen och lämnade den blaskiga storstaden mot ett vitt Sälen. Sälen är bra därför att det är lätt tillgängligt och har stora ytor på kalfjället att leka runt på. Det är även här Kitecenter håller till där du kan boka kurser. Det hade jag gjort, en privat lektion med bus och äventyr. Bara 3h bilfärd så har man gnistrande snö, jag checkade enkelt in på kitecentrets egna lilla kollektiva boende som är helt perfekt, om man inte har krav på jacuzzi eller vikt toapapper dvs. Här sover och äter du, inget annat, resten av tiden är du i backen eller jag menar kalfjället och flyger kite.

Erik är en erfaren kitare som även är en av instruktörerna. En ödmjuk och kunnig kille som beskriver landskapet med stor kärlek och passion. Han är noggrann med säkerheten, talar om risker och vikten med att alltid ha utrustningen i toppskick. - Alla kan lära sig kita på mindre än tredagar, har man bara skid eller snowboardvana så är det värdens enklaste grej, övertygar han.

Det är en del nybörjare i gruppen som tar sig försiktigte fram i sina försök att hitta de rätta vindarna.  Erik och hans kollegor hjälper dem till rätta, tipsar och guidar dem för att de skall komma rätt i vind och framför allt hur man stannar.
Erik instruerar flera olika grupper om dagen det är mycket företag som bokar kurser för att sätta lite färg på de annars så trista konferenserna som de placerar i Sälen. - Kite är ett toppen alternativ att komma ut i naturen på ett annorlunda sätt menar Erik.

Grupplektion är slut, Erik och de andra instruktörerna tar sina kiter och jag min snöskoter med kamerautrustning i. I över 50km/h flyger de fram över de djupfrusna och svinkalla landskapet. Det råder ingen tvekan om att lekfullheten blomstrar bland killarna . Kullar och snödyner är rena lekplatsen för entusiasterna. Att det är kallt är något som vi alla har glömt i samma stund som leken började.  Jag med mina frysblåa fingrar trevar efter reglagen på kameran, samtidigt som jag försöker fånga dem på bild. Det går fort, de flyger högt, känslan av frihet är ett faktum. Under två timmar röjde vi runt på kalfjället sedan kom mörkret och vi var tvungna att avsluta dagens lekstuga med hemfärd och en välförtjänt kopp varmchoklad i timmerstugan. Jag sov gott den natten, i den lilla timmerstugan som för tillfället var mitt hem.

Om du vill testa kitesurfing i sälen så använd denna länk för mer info www.kitecenter.se
Du behöver praktiskt taget inget själv,  har du inte skidor eller snowboard finns även det att hyra. Resten lämnar du i händerna på Kitecenter och du kan lita på dessa herrar, de är erfarna och utbildade.

Text/Foto Leon Grimaldi

King and Queen of Cable!

Nick Davies, Sophie Cordery, Bret Little, Szebastian Szolath and Andreas Voss earn titles at the final stop of the 2009 WWA Europe Wake Park Series (EWPS) at Princes Club, London.
The UK undoubtedly has some of the best wake park riders in the world, including current WWA World Champion, Nick Davies and top competitors such as James Young, Lewis Cornwall and CK Koester to name a few. While their performances on the recent WWA Wake Park World Series (WPWS) have earned these young riders much attention on the world scene, we cannot forget about UK’s legendary talents such as Ben Hitch, Jonty Green and Gary Stelfox whose distinct styles have awed and inspired so many. Therefore, it was only fitting that Princes Club near London host the finals of the WWA Europe Wake Park Series (EWPS) at their annual King of Cable event.
The King of Cable has a long tradition of being the big highlight and one of the most anticipated contests of the season. This year, the caliber of the event and the quality of action on the water was raised to a whole new level as some of the best international athletes in the sport converged at Princes Club to compete for the overall title and honor that goes with not just one, but two prestigious titles: ‘2009 King or Queen of Cable’ and ‘WWA Europe Wake Park Series Champion.’
The event also included a Pro-Am element with divisions and categories to suit all age groups and ability levels. Supporting the grassroots and showcasing both Amateur and Pro level riding will continue to attract more participants and foster overall growth for the sport, which is one of WWA Europe's primary goals. New to King of Cable this year, was also the inclusion of a Pro Wakeskate division as part of the overall WWA Europe Series. The riding standard was high as top UK riders Taylor Dell, Zander Jones, Will Bradley, Louis Floyd and Liam Smith had to contend with strong international competitors such as Bret Little of the USA, Kevin Cobb from Austria and German wonder Andy Kolb.
The weather conditions were ideal with warm sunshine and flat water for the competition. The addition of 2 new obstacles to the Princes Club Wake Park: the Relentless Leviathan Box and the Alliance/Wakestock Wall Ride provided a unique playground and a progressive course for competitors to do battle. The Pro Men Head to Head finals were heated as 4 British and 4 German riders took to the water. In the end, Nick Davies would come out on top with Gary Stelfox (ENG) taking 2nd and Nico Von Lerchenfeld (GER) and Freddy Von Osten (GER) finishing up 3rd and 4th. Sophie Cordery (ENG) earned top honors in the Pro Women's division with Tor Young (ENG) and Alexandria Gardiner (ENG) rounding out 2nd and 3rd place.
WWA World Series Champion Bret Little (USA) took the Pro Wakeskate category with his impressive rail riding skills and enormous kick flip, beating out Kevin Cobb (AUT) and Andy Kolb (GER). Szebastian Szolath of Hungary outshined British riders Connor Jones and Dec Clifford who took 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Jr. Men's category. Seasoned competitor Andreas Voss of Germany took the win in the Masters category beating out local riders David Ingram and Keith Hooks. In addition, the Oakley Roof Top Rail Best Trick and X-Box Big Air Contests added an exciting element for athletes, giving them the extra chance to take home some prize money. Congratulations to Nick Davies (ENG), Sophie Cordery (ENG), Bret Little (USA) and Martijn Hoogeveen (NETH) for their winning performances and Gary Stelfox and Tor Young for being crowned the new 2009 King and Queen of Cable.

Foto Amp Alliance , UK Cabelwork

FINAL RESULTS:
KING OF CABLE - Gary Stelfox ENG
QUEEN OF CABLE - Tor Young ENG

PRO MEN
1. Nick Davies ENG
2. Gary Stelfox  ENG
3. Nico Von Lerchenfeld GER
4. Frederic Von Osten GER
5. Lewis Cornwall  ENG
5. Peter-Pascal Schmidt GER
5. Tom Richter GER
5. Ben Hitch ENG

PRO WAKESKATE
1. Bret Little  USA
2. Kevin Cobb  AUT
3. Andy Kolb GER
4. Taylor Dell ENG
5. Yanick Von Lerchenfeld GER

PRO WOMEN
1. Sophie Cordery ENG
2. Tor Young  ENG
3. Alexandria Gardiner ENG
4. Naja Puhan SLO
5. Robbie Rendo ARG

JR. MEN
1. Szebazstian Szolath  HUN
2. Connor Jones  ENG
3. Dec Clifford ENG
4. Bence Bodnar   HUN
5. Nick Lewis GER
6. Joshua McHale  ENG
MASTERS MEN
1. Andreas Voss  GER
2. Dave Ingram   ENG
3. Keith Hooks   ENG
4. Philip Lee ENG
5. Stephan Flamm  GER
6. Lewis Hurst  ENG

AMATEUR MEN
1. Matt Crowhurst  ENG
2. Mike Burt  ENG
3. Louis Floyd  ENG

BOYS
1. Freddie Carter ENG
2. Cain Hamilton ENG
3. Jack Battleday ENG
4. Samuel Guyett-Summers ENG

GIRLS
1. Chloe Jones ENG
2. Laura Christian ENGGROMS
GROMS
1. Scott Rosewell  ENG
2. Connor Floyd ENG
OAKLEY ROOF TOP RAIL BEST TRICK CONTEST
Men: Nick Davies ENG
Women: Sophie Cordery ENG
Wakeskate: Bret Little USA

X-BOX BIG AIR CONTEST:
1. Martijn Hoogeveen NETH
2. Nick Davies ENG
3. Felix Georgii GER

Introducing JAN SCHIEGNITZ

-A liquid style attack-

 

Hey Jan, for more than one year now you’ve been living in Kiel, but you are originally from Würzburg. How did you get here to the Baltic Sea?
I was born in ’87 in the south of Germany. My whole family was crazy about sports, and that had a strong influence on my life since I was kid. We spent all our holidays and most of the weekends in the Alps skiing and then later snowboarding. That was definitely a great time. With 14 my life kind of changed when I had an exchange student from England visiting me. He gave me a powerkite as present and told me about kiteboarding. The power of the kite, all the possibilities and varieties of the sport both fascinated me from the beginning. I started to spend all my free time at the lakes near to where I lived to go kiting as often as possible. After my graduation I left my hometown at once, and with an Around-the-World-Ticket in my purse I went searching for the best spots in the world. And now I’m here in Kiel! (laughing)


For real that Kiel is your number one? What then would be number 2 and 3?
Well, maybe not the number 1 before Capetown, Australia and so on. But still, this place has a certain attraction. Nowhere else in Germany you find so many surfer busses in the streets – it’s just a great, relaxing atmosphere. Prior to my time in Kiel I spent several sessions on Fehmarn. Often during the holidays my family and I went on sailing trips in different waters. In 2006 we sailed from Göteborg to Helsingborg, and the summer after that from Västervik to Stockholm. It was then that I really started to love the Baltic Sea. The sessions were awesome in spite of imperfect wind stats and rather cool temperatures. Kiteboarding between the cliffy archipelago and small, wooded islands is just fascinating, beyond words. I really wanna see Gotland and all the beautiful lakes of the country’s inland. Hopefully, one day there’ll be a World Cup tour stop in Sweden.


In general, do you enjoy contests such as the PKRA (=Professional Kiteboard Riders Association) or do you consider them a mere obligation?
It’s definitely fun. Contests are the perfect opportunity to have a good time with my friends on the water and to push each other. A good ranking is great and so is getting the prize money. But that will never be my motivation to participate. Besides, these contests are just a great reason to party.


In 2006 only a few people knew you and then you won the Red Bull Slide Show right away. In 2007 you rode your first Worldcup and in 2008 you could actually improve your results. How do you evaluate your season?
This season was amazing. I travelled from one contest to the next and each time I met new cool people. The year started off with a couple of Kitesurf Trophy Stops. Unfortunately, we didn’t have wind all the time. In the early summer I was at the Legit Jam which was just way-out. Then the PKRA World Cup in St. Peter Ording. Another highlight was a road trip with some friends through the Baltic States in the late summer. There we took these photos. Altogether it was a crazy time and I’m really looking forward to the next season.


This is your third season with Liquid Force. This long-term relation suggests that you feel comfortable working with them?
Well, it was really by accident that I got there. Now I think it’s the best thing that could have happened to me. Liquid Force is the absolute number 1 when it comes to wakeboarding. No other brand fits so good to all these handlepass-tricks. Several decades of competence and knowledge of wakeboard design are reflected in the quality of the kiteboarding products. Up to now the brand has only been mentioned casually, but that is going to change in 2009 due to constant development and improvements. On the one hand, the current 09 products are more suitable for beginners with the Havoc 09, and, on the other, they’re even more radical for wakestylists. For me the Hifi Comp together with the Recoil 09 is the perfect combination. And in addition it’s super-stylish.
The guys behind the brand not only make phat products and do fair business, but they also live the right surf/wake-lifestyle. Damn sure the LF-Crew knows how to party! It’s just fun sharing the same view on the sport and to really take off together.


Same views on the sport? What do you think about kiteboarding?
Kind of difficult to say that in just one sentence. For me all boardsports embody pure style. Records and speed are nice but minor aspects; most important is to get fun out of riding and to take pleasure in watching. Everybody should discover the sport for oneself and live like that. I just love slow rotations and stylish grabs. And I can’t keep my hands off of obstacles. Kiteboarding is all about freedom and the liberty of doing all the fun stuff. Liquid Force simply asks me to do my thing and that’s fun. That’s authentic.


Your pics already suggest that you are committed to wakestyle, but your name also appears in contest rankings outside the freestyle category. And even during your sessions there is a lot of variety in your kiteboarding-performance?? (waveriding, kiteloops). Are you bored by doing wakestyle only?
But is that not what kiteboarding is all about? The best of different boardsports united in one! For me, wakestyle is without a doubt the supreme discipline. But I also enjoy being catapulted horizontally through the air by doing megaloops. And I don’t want to miss out on riding waves with the kite either.


What does a session normally look like? Do you have a fixed procedure and practice systematically or how do prepare for contests?
For contests I had to re-learn kiteboarding completely. It took me many heats of practice until all my tricks and everything else worked out within seven minutes. It was a new challenge and pushed me a lot. Ordinary sessions also change after participating in a couple of contests. The ways out to the open sea get shorter, you choose the right kite more quickly when the wind comes up and then you rip it even harder. I like the sessions with buddies from my neighbourhood the best. It’s all about fun and pushing each other. The thought of the forthcoming contest is not so important any longer.


What’s the most fascinating thing about kiteboarding compared to other sports?
Absolutely nothing is as captivating as kiteboarding. As soon as I’m on the water holding the bar in my hands and feeling the board underneath my feet, I forget about everything else. The steering, board-control and changing conditions require all senses and constant attention. It happens quite often after sessions that I think I’ve been out on the water for only a few minutes, the time in-between: a blackout! Besides, kiteboarding has so many different facets that it never EVER gets boring. When I’m not up for freestyle, there are waves waiting for me to cut through or sliders to shredder.


Tell us about the project „The Liquid Circle“!
With pleasure. „Liquid Circle“ is an obstacle project. Three friends got together to push the park riding within the kiteboarding scene. The idea is to construct a portable A-frame and kicker. The construction consists of different parts that can be transported easily and together they form either a slider or kicker. The whole thing will be built up in different places and thoroughly shreddered this summer.


Your preference for obstacles reveals your snowboard roots. We can’t imagine the mountains without funparks. Do you see in that the future of kiteboarding?
Obstacles open up a new dimension in kiteboarding. With the kicker you can fly the kite even lower, twist your body even more and hold the grabs longer. And sliders are just one hell of fun. With obstacles the style is the most important aspect setting limits to (just) hanging on to the kite. It might not be the sport’s future but rather another aspect. But I think with that (kiteboarding will gain more acceptance among the boardsports.


That’s a good closing. Thank you, Jan, for your time. Good luck and enjoy the next season!

Story/Photos Jens Hogenkamp www.jenshogenkamp.com

Rio de Janeiro, Brasilien

– Delar av den internationella världseliten inom mountainbike ställdes på natten mot måndagen svensk tid inför helt nya utmaningar när de deltog i downhilltävlingen ”Red Bull Desafio no Morro”. Bansträckningen gick nämligen nedför ett av Rio de Janeiros slumområden, favelan Dona Marta, genom slingrande gränder, utför vindlande trappor och partier som dragits över kåkstadens takåsar. Filip Polc från Slovakien vann tävlingen efter att förhandsfavoriten och regerande världsmästaren Gee Atherton drabbats av punktering.

Downhillcyklister må ha viss vana vid hinder som trappor, murar och ramper. Att cykla i stadsmiljö är inte nytt. Men utmaningarna som väntade de meriterade deltagarna i ”Re Bull Desafio no Morro” gick längre än någonsin tidigare.

Den 760 meter långa banan med 170 fallhöjdsmeter innehöll 13 specialhinder och ett flertal hopp, likt ett normalt downhillrace. Skillnaden var att tävlingen hade förlagts till en av de världskända kåkstäderna i Rio de Janeiro, vid foten av den världsberömda Jesusstatyn.
Åkarna tog sig i farter uppemot 50 km/tim genom gränder som på sina ställen inte var bredare än 80 centimeter, tätt förbi barer, affärer och dörröppningar till innevånarnas hem.

– Det är lite som i rally där förarna lyckas klämma igenom bilen mellan åskådare och skog i sista sekund, sade Slovaken Filip Polc. Dessutom, som om banan i sig inte var tillräckligt utmanande, tvingades deltagarna hantera husdjur som flygfän och hundar som flög och sprang ut i banan på vägen ner.”

Vinsten i det tio man starka finalheatet gick till Filip Polc, med brassen Markoli ”Marco” Berchtold och engelsmannen Dan Atherton på andra respektive tredje plats. Regerande världsmästaren Gee Athertons hopp om seger grusades av en olycklig punktering och britten blev sist i mål bland de startande i finalen.

Favelans innevånare fick en välkommen chans att tjäna lite på tävlingen. Mer än 100 personer i området anställdes för att hjälpa till med banbygget, tävlingsarrangemanget och demonteringsarbetet efteråt.

Resultat
1. Filip Polc (SVK), 1:39:91
2. Markoli Berchtold (BRA), 1:41:57
3. Dan Atherton (GBR), 1:42:29
4. Steve Smith (CAN), 1:45:16
5. Wallace Miranda (BRA), 1:46:12

 

Bilder/Källa Red Bull

18-årige Ken var bäst i forsen när annorlunda wakeboardtävling avgjordes

Dala-Floda, den 11 september – Wakeboardtävlingar på udda platser utan krav på motorbåt har en framtid inom sporten. Det fick några av Sveriges bästa wakeboardåkare uppleva på Lissforsen i Dala-Floda, där Red Bull UpStream avgjordes. Under två dagar har åtta av landets bästa åkare kämpat för att bemästra forsens strömma vatten med hjälp av motordrivna vinschlinor. Vann gjorde 18-årige Ken Ekblom Johansson från Bålsta.

På andra plats kom Benjamin Hoppe, 21 år från Uddevalla och trea blev Johan Wikström, 17 år från Nynäshamn.

– Det känns riktigt roligt att vinna. Själva konceptet med två dagars åkning gjorde att jag inte tänkte så mycket på att det var en tävling, säger Ken Ekblom.

Det var första gången i historien det tävlades i wakeboard på en svensk fors. De åtta inbjudna åkarna hör till den absoluta toppen inom wakeboard både inom Sverige och i Europa. Samtliga anlände till de djupa skogarna kring Dala-Floda med stor nyfikenhet.

Red Bull UpStream bestod av två tävlingsdagar med sessions, åktillfällen där åkarna ställdes inför nya utmaningar som strömmande vattenmassor, klipphällar och stenar som lurpassade mellan vågorna. Med hjälp av en motordrivna vinschar med 300 meter lång lina drogs åkarna uppströms i forsen. Det sicksackades mellan skummande vågor och hoppades på förankrade specialhinder som kickar, boxar och rails.

Ekblom bjöd de övriga deltagarna på imponerande trick i det strömma vattnet. Efter en trevande inledning i den ovanliga miljön lyckades han stoppa in 360-trick på boxen och en rad kreativa board slides i sitt program längs banan.

– Jag trodde inte att forsen skulle vara så stor, så det var ganska nervöst i början. Det kändes annorlunda och jag var tvungen att tänka till mer. Man måste vara mjukare i knäna och försöka beräkna hur man ska åka på vågorna, säger Ken

Innan åkarna kunde slänga sig ut på forsen fick alla en ordentlig säkerhetsgenomgång på plats.

– Om du trillar i får du inte ha fötterna neråt för då riskerar du att fastna och sugas med i forsen. Man måste alltid ligga på rygg till man kommer in på lite lugnare vatten där man kan börja simma in mot land. Det är också viktigt att åka med fötterna föst och inte huvudet, berättar Ken.

Efter ett och annat magplask och några kallsupar började deltagarna känna sig hemma på forsen och i slutet av dagen behärskade alla farten, motståndet och vågorna utan problem.

– Segern firade vi i badtunnan på kvällen. Alltihop har varit väldigt roligt och vi har fått prova på nya utmaningar, säger Ken.

Bland tävlingsdeltagarna fanns bland andra de tre bröderna Hoppe som gjorde en hattrick i SM 2008 när de alla tre vann sin respektive klass och Caroline Djupsjö, dubbel EM-mästarinna, VM-tvåa och tävlingens enda tjej.

– Att vara enda tjejen i gänget är lugnt. Man blir peppad av att köra med killarna och man vågar prova på mer. Det är ett schysst gäng helt enkelt, berättar Caroline.   

– Dagarna har varit både spännande och läskiga och mycket roligare än vad jag hade förväntat mig, bara själva känslan att åka på en fors är helt galen. Eftersom formatet är så nytt så har vi fått prova på helt annorlunda saker. Jag var rädd varje gång jag skulle åka för det såg helt livsfarligt ut men så fort jag kom ut i forsen kändes det bara roligt, säger Caroline.

Tävlingsformatet innebar att de tävlande fick två dagar på sig att bemästra den ovanliga miljön och att prestera bäst åkning totalt. Deltagarna själva agerade domare och bedömningen skedde genom en sluten omröstning där åkarna själva rankade en etta, två och trea.

Robbie Maddison

It’s one of the most dangerous sports going, but Robbie Maddison isn’t afraid

– He’s too addicted to the thrills of freestyle motocross for that.

Los Angeles is a tangle of freeways and low-slung concrete bungalows, punctuated by the occasional cluster of steel and glass high-rise buildings. Few are of any particular architectural merit or interest. None would catch your eye driving up the 405 freeway from San Diego on a balmy, sunny day. (click on pic for video)

Unless, of course, you happen to be Robbie Maddison.

“I was driving northbound into LA at 65 mph, and passing this big building,” says Maddison. “And I thought, ‘With the right ramp and at the right speed, I can jump a 10-storey building.’ And the idea was there.”

A few months later, it became reality. In front of thousands of revellers in Las Vegas last New Year’s Eve, the Australian freestyle motocross rider and heir-apparent to daredevil Evel Knievel rocketed up a ramp set at 68 degrees, flew 40m into the air and landed neatly on top of a 30m-tall replica of the Arc de Triomphe. Then he turned around and dropped back down, sticking the landing and driving into the arms of his immeasurably-relieved girlfriend, Amy.

Millions watched via a live telecast; more than a million have since watched the footage on YouTube. Most were probably asking the same question: What was he thinking?

“The excitement before a jump – the build-up, the suspense – is almost sickening,” says Maddison. “It’s really hard to turn the mind off, because with the big jumps, all your mind wants to play over is what could go wrong… when all that’s gone, there comes a calmness about the whole situation, and you realise that physics proves it’s possible. So, once you avoid all that, it’s the most amazing feeling ever.”

Since the New Year’s Eve jump introduced Maddison to the world, he’s jumped Tower Bridge in London, and will return to England again in a few weeks to battle it out with the world’s top 12 freestyle motocross riders on a course of big jumps built for the occasion at Battersea Power Station, the finale of the X-Fighters freestyle motocross tour.

Three decades after Knievel’s last jump, the 27-year-old from Kiama, New South Wales, is heading a new generation of wannabe Evels who are bringing big-jump spectacles back. Maddison’s New Year’s Eve jump came a year after he set the long-distance jump record, again on New Year’s Eve, again in Las Vegas. With the family of Evel Knievel looking on, less than a month after the daredevil’s death, Maddison jumped 322ft and seven inches (98.32m), setting the world record at a length Knievel himself said could never be managed.



It’s not just the more powerful and lighter bikes – the new generation of big jumpers are better trained and more methodical in their approach.

“It’s not just winging it, like it used to be,” says Cameron Steele, a longtime rider and motor sports commentator for the American sport network ESPN. “A lot who have been successful in past four five years, are aware of the science of it. It’s become more of a profession. These guys aren’t daredevils, they’re athletes.”

The late morning wind whips up dust devils, and cows lumber slowly across the parched ground in the hills near Valencia, greater LA. It’s hard to believe the waxed Porsches and bronzed, botoxed skin of Wilshire Boulevard and Malibu are just an hour’s drive away – depending on traffic, of course – to the south. In the arid hills separating southern California from the breadbasket that makes up the central part of the state, two sizeable motocross courses, with moulded jumps and ramps, have been carved into a small valley just down the road from a shooting range.

Maddison sits in the shade of a blue tarpaulin, slowly pulling on his gear. Two carbon-fibre knee braces go over a pair of leggings. He pulls a jersey over his narrow and muscular frame, covered in scrapes and surgery scars. Maddison guesses he’s broken more than 30 bones in his body, not to mention suffering concussions, skull fractures and a laundry list of various other injuries not for the faint of heart.

His mechanic fiddles with the blue Yamaha bike, zip-tying down the throttle and brake cables so that Maddison’s feet don’t catch on them while he’s upside down in mid-air. A beefy fellow with a sartorial taste rarely diverting from black T-shirts and baseball caps, Vernon ‘Buddy’ Wagner became Maddison’s full-time mechanic last year. An almost constant travel companion, Wagner has coaxed the best out of Maddison’s bikes, and serves, along with Amy, as a confidant and sounding board.

The bike he wheels out onto the edge of the course is the same one he used for the New Year’s Eve jump and the Tower Bridge jump, and it will hopefully guide him to victory in the X-Fighters event in Battersea. “Comfort means a lot to him,” says Buddy. “We’ve got a new bike in, but Robbie keeps asking for the blue Yamaha.”



The bike pops and growls as Maddison twists the accelerator, the understanding between man and machine obvious as he guides it around the course, dust clouds trailing. He hits one ramp over and over again, whipping his bike to the side in mid-air or hovering horizontal above it and grabbing the seat. He pops a backflip; then another one. Amy, sitting at a picnic bench under the tarp, breaks off conversation when she hears the sudden rev of the engine in mid-air. She waits for the sound of the bike landing and Maddison accelerating again, and then walks out to get a better view. Maddo hits a double jump facing the hillside, and whips the bike to the side, cutting a beautiful arc in the blue sky. “Oooh,” she says, clapping. “That was good.”

The two met five years ago, at a time when Maddison was adrift, recovering from injuries and spending a bit too much time enjoying the nocturnal exploits of the party-heavy motocross scene. Amy provided stability and structure. Maddison likes to say that she also brought out his inner show-off. Of course, it was always there.

He was three years old when he pulled his first stunt, riding full-speed down a hill next to a school bus filled with his cheering kindergarten classmates. He hit the brakes, laying down a nice long skidmark right next to the waiting parents at the bottom of the hill.

His mother gave him a hiding; his father gave him a motorcycle helmet.

A year later, he got his first motocross bike. Shortly thereafter, he snapped it in half.

By age five, Maddison was jumping a two-tiered car park near his family home, flying 10-12m in the air. By eight years old, he was competing in motocross events all around Australia, his father waking him at 3am for the 10-hour drive to dusty tracks far from home. On the technically-demanding motocross tracks, his ease on the bike was noticeable; his penchant for going big on the jumps, more so.

“I just kept wanting bigger bikes so I could jump bigger and bigger,” he says.

At 16, he gave up a promising career in favour of a more stable future as an electrician’s apprentice. After two years of nine-to-five work that give him the money to buy a house but did nothing for his happiness, he reconsidered.

“I walked away from that, and my mind told me I was wrong, but my heart told me I was right,” he recalls. “When I listened to that, and had the courage to follow that, my mind couldn’t make sense of it.”
Maddison spends a lot of time ignoring what his mind tells him. It’s what enables him to do things on a bike that most of us cringe watching, let alone try ourselves. The community of freestyle motocross racers is a tight-knit one, owing both to its relatively small size and to the shared understanding among the riders that few people can truly fathom what drives them.

Recent months have found Maddison in an especially reflective mood. The death of his close friend and X-Games Champion Jeremy Lusk in an accident during a competition in Costa Rica in February shook the entire community of racers and drove home the danger inherent in their sport.

“How does Lusk pass away, doing what we do every single day, when I just went with the biggest risk of anyone, jumped a building and just walked away – how is that even fair?” says Maddison. “It was hard to understand.”

Since the incident, Maddison’s become more careful, more in-tune with the voices telling him when it’s time not to ride. A FMX rider’s professional life is spent treading the fine line between courage and lunacy. Maddison keeps balance by striving to live in the moment, thankful for each opportunity he gets on a bike.

“I know a lot of people are afraid to die. I’m not,” he says. “ Not that I want to end anything, but it’s important to get everything out of life – and that’s what I’m doing.”

One wonders where it can go from here. Maddison sometimes gets the feeling that he’s peaked too early, hitting two massive jumps within a year. But then there are always riders pushing him to jump higher and set new records as he breaks old ones. Mostly, though, it is the adoration of the crowd and the spectacle of the big jumps that proves far too addictive for him to resist.

In a matter of weeks, Maddison will rocket out of an empty window at the Battersea Power Station, hitting a carefully designed course, jockeying with his fellow riders for bigger airs and crowd reaction.

“If you’re not seeing Robbie the showman, you’re not seeing the real Robbie,” he says. “That’s just who I am.”



Words: Andreas Tzortzis /Red Bulletin

Foto: 1. Garth Milan 2.Chris Tedesco 3.Michael Regan 4.Michael Regan 5.Daniel Kolodin

”Dido” vann Red Bull Art of Motion

Det var trångt på Stortorget i Helsingborg när Red Bull Art of Motion avgjordes sent på lördagskvällen vid fästningen Kärnan. Cirka 6 000 personer kom för att se Sveriges första tävling i Freerunning, vilket gjorde den till en av de största i sportens historia. Vann gjorde 17-årige Delyan ”Dido” Dimitrov från Bulgarien, före Jason Paul (Tyskland) och regerande världsmästaren Tim ”Livewire” Shieff (England). (klicka bild för film)
17 tävlande från tio länder kom till start i tävlingen med målsättningen att så effektivt och akrobatiskt som möjligt utnyttja murar, väggar, trappavsatser och räcken. Volter, spinntrick och enorma hopp avlöste varandra och varvades med balansövningar.
Kvällens stjärna var blott 17-årige Deylan ”Dido” Dimitrov from Sofia, Bulgarien. Med högst poäng i startfältet efter både grundomgång och final var det ingen som kunde matcha hans energi och tempo.
– Det känns helt otroligt. Att vinna det här är en dröm som blev sann och det absolut största som har hänt mig, sade en märkbart skakad Deylan Dimitrov efter att ha tagit emot prischecken på 15 000 SEK.
Tvåan Jason Paul från Tyskland var dock mycket nära att rubba Dimitrov, bara en ynka poäng bakom vinnaren i finalomgången dit de åtta bästa kvalificerat sig.
Hemmahoppet Filip Ljungberg fick stor press på sig efter att kompisen Marcus Gustafsson tvingats avstå tävlingen på grund av sjukdom. Med kvällens största publikstöd gjorde Ljungberg ett starkt intryck. Ett sus gick genom publiken när han satte en frivolt med en och en halv tvist över banans högsta hopp.
– Det här var en otrolig kväll och ett fantastiskt arrangemang rakt igenom. Vilken stämning! Jag är kanonnöjd med min insats även om jag fick en blackout vid första hoppet. Det gjorde att det inte blev det trick jag hade tänkt mig, sade Filip Ljungberg.

Ljungberg missade finalen med knapp marginal och slutade på tionde plats. Bäste skandinav blev istället Bjarke Hallden från Danmark. Deltagarna fick max 90 sekunder på sig i banan och bestämde själva hur de ville använda hindren och vilka trick de ska göra. Fem domare bedömde kriterierna svårhetsgrad, kontroll, stil och kreativitet. Total maxpoäng efter borträkning av högsta och lägsta domarpoängen var 120 poäng.

Resultatlista final
1. Delyan ”Dido” Dimitrov (BUL) 100 p
2. Jason Paul (GER) 99 p
3. Tim "Livewire" Shieff (UK) 95 p
4. Bjarke Hallden (DK) 89 p
5. Victor ”Showtime” Lopez (USA) 88 p
6. Pavel ”Pasha” Petkuns (LAT) 87 p
7. Khoa ”KOA” Huynh (GER) 86 p
8. Niel Hutson (GBR) 77 p

Resultatlista grundomgång
1. Delyan ”Dido” Dimitrov (BUL) 96 p
2. Jason Paul (GER) 96 p
3. Victor “Showtime” Lopez (USA) 92 p
4. Niel Hutson (GBR) 91 p
5. Tim "Livewire" Shieff (GBR) 91 p
6. Bjarke Hellden (DK) 91 p
7. Pavel ”Pasha” Petkuns (LAT) 90 p
8. Khoa ”KOA” Huynh (GER) 90 p
9. Luci ”Steel” Romberg (USA) 88 p
10. Filip ”Flippad” Ljungberg (SWE) 87 p
11. David ”OJ” Elson (USA) 81 p
12. Shaun Wood (AUS) 81 p
13. Gabriel ”Jay Walker” Nunez (USA) 79 p
14. Lasse Hammer (DK) 78 p
15. Vincent ”Vinnie” Watson (NED) 77 p
16. Jack ”Jack in the Boxx” Lowry (GBR) 77 p
17. Sascha ”Cionn” Hauser (AUT) 60 p

Text/Bild Red Bull

11 nationer deltar i Sveriges första Freerunningtävling

En färsk världsmästare, två svenska hjältar och en stuntkvinna från Hollywood finns med i startfältet inför Red Bull Art of Motion, Sveriges första internationella tävling i Freerunning. På lördag kväll avgörs i centrala Helsingborg vem som är bäst på att ta sig an stadshinder som murar, väggar, trappavsatser och räcken.

I Freerunning ska hindren utnyttjas så akrobatiskt och spektakulärt som möjligt. Volter och spinntrick blandas med rörelser hämtade från breakdance och kampsport. Många av de tävlande har en bakgrund inom gymnastik på elitnivå.

Till Helsingborg kommer 19 av världens bästa inom sporten från elva länder. Tävlingsarenan utgörs av fästningen Kärnans trappor och avsatser ner mot Stortorget. Förutom de två hemmahoppen Filip Ljungberg och Marcus Gustafsson deltar tävlande från Australien, Bulgarien, Danmark, Holland, Lettland, Spanien, Storbritannien, Tyskland, USA och Österrike.

Ensam tjej i startfältet
Bland dem finns nykorade världsmästaren i Freerunning, Tim ”Livewire” Shieff, som den 15 augusti vann VM i London inför 7 500 åskådare på Trafalgar Square. Till Helsingborg kommer också 28-åriga Luci Romberg från USA, startfältets enda tjej, som tagit ledigt från jobbet som stuntkvinna i Hollywood för att tävla i Red Bull Art of Motion.

– Arenan ser fantastisk ut! Vi ska tävla på en gammal fästning och hur coolt är inte det? Det har jag aldrig gjort förut. Det strålar positiv energi kring de deltagare som jag har mött och vi ser alla fram emot lördag kväll, säger Luci Romberg.

Red Bull Art of Motion startar klockan 20:00 på lördag den 22 augusti. Deltagarna kommer att få max 90 sekunder på sig i banan och kan själva bestämma hur de vill använda hindren och vilka trick de ska göra. Fem domare bedömer kriterier som svårhetsgrad, kontroll, stil och kreativitet.

Fri entré
Evenemanget är gratis för allmänheten. Förutom själva tävlingen bjuds det på underhållning i form av scratchshow av diskjockeyn Sid och uppträdande av hip-hopartisten Aaron Phiri från Hearin Aid.

Preliminär deltagarlista
David "Oj" Elson (USA)
Lasse Hammer (DK)
Bjarke Hellden (DK)
Filip "Flippad" Ljungberg (SWE)
Markus "Zyrken" Gustafsson (SWE)
Timothy "Livewire" Shieff (UK)
Neil Hutson (UK)
Pavel "Pasha" Petkuns (LAT)
Andrejs Turanovs (LAT)
"Khoa" (GER)
Jason Paul (GER)
Luci Romberg (USA)
Shaun Wood (AUS)
David Fenandez Juaquin (ESP)
Vincent Watson (NED)
Dido Dimitrov (BUL)
Sascha Hauser (AUT)

 

foto/Leon Grimaldi källa/ red bull