The 11th Burton European Open Snowboarding Championships started it’s week-long “Circus” show today with the junior slopestyle competition here in LAAX, Switzerland. 54 little rippers up to 14 years old from fourteen nations were competing today up on Crap Sogn Gion. 13-year-old Swiss rider David Hablützel won the boys’s slopestyle competition and 12-year-old Ty Walker from the US stood on top of the girls slopestyle podium.

A perfectly shaped slopestyle course welcomed the groms today who mastered the adult course with bravery. In the finals the riders had three runs to determine the winner, the best one counted. The girls’ finals were dominated by Ty Walker from the USA, who repeated her win from last year and claimed her 2nd junior slopestyle BEO victory today. Ty started off with a frontside boardslide on the box, followed by a nosegrab off the up rail, a frontside stall on the jib tube, a 50-50 on the box and a backside 540 indy on the quarterpipe feature finishing up with a frontside 360, a backside 360 and a method air on the kicker line. Ty had the following to say: “I was a little bit nervous today, but it worked out perfectly for me. I really liked the course, as it is so progressive.” On the boys front it was Swiss rider David Hablützel, who earned first place. David, who is a member of the Freestyle Academy here in LAAX, showed an impressive run including a nosepress nosegrab on the box, a method air off the up rail, a rock-n-roll to fakie on the jib tube, a 50-50 nosepress on the downbox, followed by a backside 540 truckdriver on the quarter and a backside 540, a switch backside 540 and a frontside 720 truckdriver on the kickers. David was a happy kid today: “I am so stoked. My goal was to win once in my snowboarding career. That happened already today!”

The riding level from the youngest competitors of this week was impressively high today and proved that the future of snowboarding is in good hands. Highlight of today was 9-year-old Chloe Kim from the US. She was not only the youngest competitor of the day, she was also the only one of all 54 riders who showed an inverted trick, a frontflip on the quarter!

The BEO continues tomorrow with the junior halfpipe event and the slopestyle pre-qualifications men.

Junior Slopestyle Boys’ Results
1. David Hablützel (SUI) 85.00
2. Tim-Kevin Ravnjak (SLO) 79.83
3. Jan Kralj (SLO) 79.33

Junior Slopestyle Girls’ Results
1. Ty Walker (USA) Roxy 66.00
2. Ramona Petrig (SUI) Esperanto 52.17
3. Chloe Kim (USA) 42.83