As the 12 qualifiers from the previous day’s competition took to the Quiksilver Nanshan Mellow Park for day two of the 7th Red Bull Nanshan Open, feelings were mixed as the wind that plagued last year’s event threatened to dampen yet another Nanshan Open. However with this year’s improved setup and some solid tucking down the in-run by the riders, enough speed was gained in practice to be able to utilize the smaller of the two kicker lines and the competition was on!
After the morning session, some radical riding and some heavy deliberation from the judges, the results really were too close to call. Markus Keller and Tyler Chorlton ended up in a dead tie for 4th place, and thus 5 riders would advance through to the Super Finals. Markus and Tyler joined Atsushi Ishikawa, Freddy Austbo and Kalle Ohlson for the afternoon’s showdown.
An obvious crowd favourite at the 6th Red Bull Nanshan Open, Freddy Austbo unfortunately failed to place highly in last year’s event, unable to gain enough speed against the wind. This year, however, things would be different, and as the winds increased in the afternoon Freddy morphed into the ultimate aerodynamic machine, becoming one of the few competitors to comfortable clear both kickers. “I’m so stoked. This year I didn’t use Kalle’s wax and bought my own instead, so I was actually able to get some speed! I can’t wait to celebrate at karaoke tonight…” Freddy took home first place and 500 TTR points with a winning run consisting of a BS540 off the first hit, a Cab540 off the second, a BS180 up on to the wave box and a Cab540 off. Freddy finished his run with a rock-and-roll to fakie on the wallride.
Check the results:
1 - Freddy Austbo (Norway), Quiksilver/Nixon/Elm
2 - Atsushi Ishikawa (Japan), Quiksilver/Deeluxe/Flow
3 - Kalle Ohlson (Sweden), Vans/Bataleon/Adidas
4 - Markus Keller (Switzerland), Red Bull/Nitro/Volcom
5 - Tyler Chorlton (Great Britain), Bataleon/Oakley/Vans
6 - Jakob Wilhelmson (Sweden), Quiksilver/Libtech/Level
7 - Yongho Lee (Korea), Salomon/Sugapoint/Electric
8 - Teo Konttinen (Finland), Quiksilver
9 - Werner Stock (Austria), Red Bull/Salomon/Bonfire
10 - Sergey Lapushkin (Russia), Red Bull/DC/686
11 - Matevz Petek (Slovenia), Nitro/L1/Dragon
12 - Filippo Kratter (Italy), Red Bull/Nitro/Volcom
Nice work Freddy!! Podiums, Mag covers, video parts. What's next?
-Dan
