Shaun White, Kelly Clark, Kevin Pearce and Nicolas Muller Plan to Attend
The ninth annual Burton European Open (BEO) is just over one month away, and riders from around the world are lining up to take part in one of Europe’s most prestigious snowboard events.
From January 11-18, 2008 at Laax resort in Switzerland, snowboard superstars Shaun White (USA), Antti Autti (FIN), Nicolas Müller (SUI), Mason Aguirre (USA), Danny Davis (USA), Kelly Clark (USA), Jenny Jones (UK), Kjersti Buaas (NOR) and Cheryl Maas (NED) will gather to take part in world-class halfpipe and slopestyle competitions on the legendary slopes of Crap Sogn Gion. Also planning to attend the BEO are Kevin Pearce (USA) and Mikkel Bang (NOR), who recently earned first and second place respectively at the Air & Style in Munich.
At the Burton European Open, over $125,000 USD in prize money will be distributed equally among the female and male finalists of the slopestyle and halfpipe competitions. The male and female riders with the best overall performance at the BEO will be crowned the BEO Overall Winner 2008 and drive home a brand new Suzuki Grand Vitara Freeride Edition.
Over 350 riders from around the world registered to compete at the upcoming event. Based on registration lottery results, 100 male and 50 female amateur and professional riders will compete in preliminary rounds for the slopestyle and halfpipe events. 80 kids have entered the junior competitions for riders under 16 years of age. Competitors can earn points towards the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) Championship Title and the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour ranking, which will award the top ranked male and female riders $50,000 each at the end of the season.
BEO 2008 Schedule @ Crap Sogn Gion LAAX:
Friday 11th Jan: Slopestyle Juniors
Saturday 12th Jan: Halfpipe Juniors
Sunday 13th Jan: Slopestyle Pre-Qualification and Qualification Men
Monday 14th Jan: Halfpipe Pre- Qualification Men and Qualification Women
Tuesday 15th Jan: Slopestyle Qualification Women and Semi-Finals Men & Women
Wednesday 16th Jan: Halfpipe Qualification Men and Semi-Finals Men & Women
Thursday 17th Jan: Slopestyle Finals Men & Women
Friday 18th Jan: Halfpipe Finals Men & Women