Lisa Wiik (NOR) claimed the first Burton European Open title of her career in a highly competitive slopestyle final at the BEO’s 10th birthday celebration. She will take home $15,000, 8,000 BGOS points and a whopping 1,000 TTR points! Laax local Sina Candrian (SUI) took second, with upcoming Cooler cover girl Kjersti Buaas (NOR) taking third place.

In one of the most cut-throat slopestyle competitions of the season, both the men’s and women’s podiums were not decided until the final runs. In the slopestyle finals, eight women and 16 men had three runs to earn a spot on the podium. The competition alternated between the women’s field taking one run followed by the men taking one run.

The competition was extremely tight in the women’s finals with Laax local Sina Candrian (SUI), Kjersti Buaas (NOR) and Lisa Wiik (NOR) all stomping runs that put them in first place at one point during the finals. Sina Candrian threw down an epic second run, stomping the only frontside 900 of the competition. But she could only hold the top spot for a few minutes because Lisa Wiik (NOR) took the lead and held on to it with her second run that included a frontside 180 nose tap on the log jib, a frontside 360 on the wallride, a 50/50 nosepress on the down box a frontside air and a backside inverted 540 on the halfpipe hits and a backside 540 mute, frontside 360 and a backside 360 indy on the jumps.

In the end, Lisa won the first major title of her career by less than two-tenths of a point, with Sina right behind her in second and Kjersti Buaas rounding out the podium with a third-place finish. Lisa Wiik was thrilled with the results and said: “This was my best contest result ever. I haven’t been on the podium for so long because of injuries, so I am very glad I won today.“

The men’s slopestyle finals turned into a real nail-biter during the third runs. After run two, 2008 BEO Slopestyle Champion Shaun White had a comfortable eight-point lead, and until Danny Davis dropped in for his third run, it looked like Shaun had first place in the bag. But then came Danny, who was on fire after a fall in his second run and pulled out all the stops. Shaun still had one more run to top Danny’s score, and he started off strong at the top but unfortunately fell on the second kicker. The last run of the day belonged to current BGOS Champion Peetu Piiroinen (FIN), who shook up the podium standings one more time with the final run of the competition, claiming second place. In the end, less than one point separated first and third podium finishes in the men’s slopestyle finals, with Burton riders sweeping the men’s slopestyle podium.

The slopestyle results added up to a very exciting day and Lisa and Kjersti are set to meet again today for a re-match in the BEO halfpipe finals, along with 2008 BEO Halfpipe Champion Kelly Clark (USA). Stay tuned…

Women’s Slopestyle Finals Results
1 Wiik, Lisa (NOR) ROXY 75.83
2 Candrian, Sina (SUI) BURTON 75.67
3 Oestgaard Buaas, Kjersti (NOR) 72.67

Men’s Slopestyle Finals Results
1 Davis, Danny (USA) BURTON 91.17
2 Piiroinen, Peetu FIN BURTON 90.83
3 White, Shaun USA BURTON 90.33

For more information on the Burton European Open, head to opensnowboarding.com