NINE KNIGHTS: Freeski Contest Oberstdorf, Germany
Bene Mayr
Daniel Schiel |
Finally the sun came out at the Nine Knights freeski session at the Nebelhorn in Oberstdorf. Nico Zacek, one of Germany's finest freeskiers, Suzuki team rider and head organizer of the event, had a big smile in his face. 30,000 cubic metres of snow got moved to build the monster over the last weeks, at the end the obstacle looked like an ancient castle. Nico had invited riders from six different countries in Europe to session this unique obstacle - and of course some well known filmers and photographers to capture this event.
A big shout out to the shape crew of Schneestern, who built a perfect jump, which not only worked out fine, it also looked really stylish and clean. Also plenty of spectators showed up on the mountain to have some good skiing first and then watch this high quality show of some of the world's best freeskiers. The level of tricks was really high and nobody got hurt, which also showed the quality work that has been done by the organizers and shapers. Thanks to NBH events for their great support.
When a bunch of international pros come to together on a big jump like this, there is always some kind of contest going on as well. As there were three different sessions on the agenda, the plan was to announce the winners at the end of the day, counting the overall impression of riding during the whole day. There were two different obstacles built into the castle, a kicker and a quarter pipe. In terms of the kicker there was no doubt about the winner: Henrik Harlaut, a 17 year old Swedish kid convinced everyone with massive style and his big bag of high standard tricks like cab 9s and cab 10s with various grabs, Cork 5 true tail and nose mute.
The title for the quarter pipe was no discussion at all either. Event organizer Nico Zacek showed the young groms how to ride a quarter properly. He had highest air, did some stylish quarter transfers and showed loads of different tricks all day long.
The quarter was divided by the big kicker; so basically there were two identical quarters next to each other, which lead to idea of having a team challenge. So now there were two riders in the run at the same time, howling towards the quarter at almost 100 km/h. Both hit the quarter doing the exact same trick. Garmisch local Thomas Hlawitschka and English ripper Paddy Graham were doing best in the team challenge.
But the session was not over.
When the lifts were closed, a helicopter turned up to shoot a sunset session. The light turned out to be epic! First there were clouds and everyone thought it wouldn't work, but it cleared out and Mattias Fredriksson sent his Swedish posse up to do the jump again and again and again.
At night there was a big party at the Hörbar in Oberstdorf, where the prizs were handed out. Henrik won a trip to the X-Fighters in Wuppertal, Nico got a trip to the Suzuki Offroad Camp in Spain. Then Swiss gangsta rapper and Nine Knights rider Mickael Deschenaux took over the mic for some freestyle action. He has been working on his hip hop career for a while now…
For more pics, videoblog and stories check www.nineknights.com.
Winners:
Kicker: Henrik Harlaut (SWE)
Quarter: Nico Zacek (GER)
Team: Thomas Hlawitschka (GER) & Paddy Graham (UK)
Final list of riders:
Nico Zacek
Oscar Scherlin
Thomas Hlawitschka
Fabio Studer
Mickael Deschenaux
Henrik Harlaut
Paddy Graham
Martin Misof
Bene Mayer (Jester)
Lukas Brucic (Jester)
Thade Joas (Jester)
King of his castle
Daniel Schiel |
Graham and Hlawitschka
Daniel Schiel |
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