Mathieu Crepel conquers 4Star Poney Session in Pyrénnées
After four days of thrilling action and intense slopestyle battle, the 9th edition of the 4Star Poney Session climaxed on 22nd March at the St Lary snow park in the French Pyrénnées.
Besting an impressive looking line up, Pyrénnées local and renowned French rider Mathieu Crepel clinched victory to take home a big slice of the $20,000 prize purse, along with 500 coveted Swatch Ticket to Ride (TTR) ranking points. Sweden’s Isak Björnström
finished one place behind Crepel, with France’s Jean Jaques (JJ) Roux finishing in third place.
Crepel had been absent from the competition scene for a while. The first ever Swatch TTR Tour Champion in 2005/06 and many other accomplishments to his name, he had earned quite an impressive reputation over the years.
With the Poney Session presenting a perfect opportunity for inactive riders to make a return to the competitive scene once again, Crepel found himself taking on the new generation of French talent such as Gerome Matthieu, Johann Baisamy, Victor De Le Rue
and Maxence Tevelle.
He was also up against the podium finisher at 5Star Nescafe Champs Leysin Slopestyle this winter, Sweden’s Niklas Mattson. Other Swedish representative included Isak Björnström, Niklas Askmyr and Kalle Ohlson. Crepel indeed had a tough line up in front of
him to beat at Pyrénnées.
Going against 9 riders in the final, Crepel decided to hold nothing back and bring out his best for the local fans, who were cheering their lungs out. Doing justice to their support and cheers, he pulled off a sensational run to seal the fate of the final.
This run included a half cab boardslide 270 out on the pole jam, a switch back 900 on the big air, and a sweet frontside 1080. The day could not have turned out to be any better for him.
Talking to a journalist later, Crepel said, “I had a perfect day with my good friends and the park was amazing! I rode every line of the slope, I tried new tricks and I landed a Cab Double Under, in the Perfect Jump. I'm stoked to finally get the Pony Title!
This event really is worth its 4 TTR stars and I'll be there for sure for the 10th anniversary next year!”
Sweden’s Björnström has been enjoying a good season so far, finding a place on the podium at the two European 4Star events earlier. He continued with the momentum at Pony Session and landed himself in second place.
With still several 1-4 Stars events yet to come on the TTR Tour, he has a great opportunity to collect results in order to determine his Season-End Bonus Points, which he will be carrying to the 2011/12 season.
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