Kai Mahler claims top honours at the Suzuki Nine Knights big air contest
The Switzerland freeskier Kai Mahler claimed top honours at the Suzuki Nine Knights event that went down at Mottolino Fun Mountain in Livigno, Italy, in Saturday, April 14.
America’s Gus Kenworthy finished behind Mahler in second place, whereas another Swiss freeskier Jonas Hunziker took third place to complete the podium.
Some of the best freeskiers from around the globe had converged to Livigno to push the boundaries of the sport while participating in a film and photo-shoot. However, the event was to wrap up with the big air contest on Saturday.
With 50 centimetres of fresh snow at the valley in the middle of the week, the event organisers had to work over-time to get everything set up and ready for a weekend of action. The Schneestern crew and event organisers Nick Zacek utilised all the resources
at their disposal to ensure that the Suzuki Nine Knights event did not fail to get underway on time and in a well-built course.
As the AFP Gold Level big air contest kicked-off on Saturday, eight of the world’s top freeskiers make their way into the Final to battle it out for top honours.
Each freeskier had five jumps on the kicker to pull off their extra-special trick in order to impress the judges with two of their best tricks.
While plenty of exquisite tricks were landed during the Final, there was nobody who managed to outperform Mahler. The 16-year-old Swiss freeskier landed a flawless Dub 1080 Mute and backed it up with a Dub 1260 Dub Japan Shifty to finish with a two-run total
of 196.66 points. The score held up until the end to see the young sensation off to victory.
“Competing against such a high calibre made me really step it up,” said Kai. “I am so stoked to have won here today at the Nine Knights Big Air!”
Kenworthy was forced to settle for runner-up place after finishing with a score of 195.99 points, earned through a perfect execution of a switch Dub Rodeo 1080 Japan and a Dub 1440 Blunt.
Hunziker rounded out the top-three after landing a Dub 1080 Dub Mute and Dub 1260 Safety to collect a combined-score of 168.32 points.
“This is my first podium at such a big event,” Hunziker said, “and I can't believe how much fun I had out there today.”
It turned out to be an action-packed weekend at Livigno, with the freeskiers daring to go beyond their limits all for the sake of the progression of the sport.
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