Roope Tonteri claims victory at the BURN RIVER JUMP 2012 – Snowboarding News
Finland’s Roope Tonteri walked away with top honours at the BURN RIVER JUMP 2012 that went down at Livigno, Italy, on Thursday, February 23.
The 19-year-old Valkeala-based rider claimed the win by prevailing over Norway’s Ulrik Badertscher while going head-to-head with him in the final.
The judging for the BURN RIVER JUMP contest was based on the rider’s performance on the jibbing features in the finishing area, the main kicker and the jump over River Spoel.
The jump over River Spoel was undoubtedly the biggest attraction at the event, with the crowd expecting nothing short of phenomenal tricks from the 16 competitors from around the globe, which included a handful of invited riders, top-10 riders from BURN
SLOPESTYLE contest that went down a day earlier and wildcard holders.
After a series of exquisite performances, Tonteri found himself pitted against double Winter X Games-medallist Mark McMorris from Canada in the super-finals while Badertscher squared off with fellow Norwegian Staale Sandbech.
Prevailing in their respective battles, Tonteri and Badertscher had to face each other for the coveted honours.
The Finnish rider landed a massive Cab 1260 and backed it up with a Back-side 900 over the River Spoel before capping off his run with a Board-slide 270. The run earned him a score of 91.33 points.
Badertscher failed to match his rival’s run and was forced to settle for runner-up place after landing Backside 1080, a double Backside Rodeo 900 over River Spoel and finishing his run with a Cab 270 hard-way for 90.33 points.
Talking to a reporter after the announcement of the results, an ecstatic Tonteri said, “My heart is beating so fast. I am happy to be here. I feel really good at the River Jump. This morning I had a sauna and then I came to the contest. But I didn’t expect
this victory. Ulrik’s run was so strong.”
McMorris had put on an exceptional performance on the jibbing section. His Hard-way 270 on 270 out allowed him to emerge as the BURN JIB MASTER 2012, which eventually led him to secure the third place on the podium.
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