The Zurich Big Air Contest
by Tim Swart
(September 20-21, 1996)

The circus season is not in full swing as the first event of the scaffolding jump snowboard series went down in Zurich, Switzerland. The men's competition was won by Joni Malmi of Finland and Valerie Bourdoir of France to the women's.

The Zurich event was sponsored by the Swiss Tourist Board, Swatch, Gotcha, and Nescafe. Over 90 riders from all over Europe, the US, Canada, and Japan attended.

The hill was built from scaffolding and wood, and the snow was made of tents using liquid nitrogen and then shoveled onto the structure. An artificial snowboard slope that has all of the sensitivity and provides all of the pleasure of the real thing was then created.

The men's event was truly dominated by Scandinavian riders who comprised of six of the top eight places. Standouts included Sweden's Jacob Soderqvist and Finland's Sami Hyry. The long American competitor, 19 year old Bjorn Leines of Salt Lake City, Utah finished in 9th place. Finland's Joni Malmi (Hammer Snowboards) executed the upside down switchstance 900 boner several times and again in the final for the unanimous decision. He took home $1000 cash and an all-expenses paid weekend for tow in Verbier for his efforts.

The women's event was won hands down by France's Valerie Bourdier (A Snowboards) for her rendition of the frontside 720 maneuver.

The event was held as one of the attractions of the World Inline Skating Championships. In addition to "aggressive" inline, slalom, and limbo competitions, there was also extreme wakeboarding, and an entertaining vert ramp demo by skateboarders Tony Hawk, Danny Way, and Tas Pappas plus BMXer Matt Hoffman.

The judging, as always, puzzled many competitors and spectators as botched landings of multiple rotation tricks were being scored higher than clean executions of lesser rotation tricks. This resulted in the obligatory snowball toss at the judging panel.

The "Big Air Scaffold jumping series continues this fall with events in Vienna, Geneva, London, and of course, Innsbruck with the possible competitions in Paris and New York.