Media Room
Mason Aguirre & Hannah Teter WIN
4 September 2008
Crowds flocked to watch the Burton Australian Open final men’s and women’s halfpipe competition at Perisher Blue yesterday. Always a crowd favorite, the halfpipe finals were not to be missed as a field of impressive names threw down runs that were equally as impressive.
The men were first to drop and it was Mason Aguirre who showed strength early on with the highest first run score of 92.83. Fellow FREND Luke Mitrani topped Aguirre’s score with his second run that consisted of a frontside 900 tailgrab, followed by a backside Japan air, into a frontside 720 indy, finishing with a switch double backflip, the likes of which have never been seen at a halfpipe competition in Australia.
Not to be outdone, Aguirre rose to the challenge with a run that started with a Cab 1080 mute, followed by a frontside 900 melon, into a backside rodeo 540 indy, finishing with an alley-oop backside rodeo 720 indy, earning him the win and $7,500 AUD with a margin of less than one point. Aguirre had this to say of his win, “It was tough. Luke made me work for it but it was so much fun riding with the crew. The pipe held up really well and I’m stoked to win here in Oz.”
Mitrani held on to 2nd place and rode away with a big check for $3,500 AUD. Markus Malin, who landed 2nd place in New Zealand at the Burton Open last month, took home another podium win for Finland with 3rd place and $1,500 AUD.
In the women’s competition, Olympic gold medalist, Hannah Teter took the lead early on, with a technical run that combined back-to-back 540’s, into a 360 indy, followed by a Cab 720, finishing with a melon to fakie. “The pipe was really fun, everyone was riding super good considering the snow was a little slow,” said Teter of her win. “It was really motivating watching the guys and the girls throw down their tricks.”
Giving Teter a run for the money was Paulina Ligocka out of Poland, who has not competed in nearly a year due to injury. Ligocka showed no signs of struggle as she stuck a 720 on the first hit and landed a McTwist in her highest scoring run, taking home 2nd place and $3,500 AUD. New Zealand Open halfpipe champion Jamie Anderson won $1,500 AUD and the third place title. Anderson, the back-to-back X-Games slopestyle gold medalist and winner of the slopestyle competition at the New Zealand Open last month will take on her competitors tomorrow during slopestyle finals.
Luke Mitrani and Jamie Anderson are currently in the lead for the $100,000 Burton Global Open Series Championship title. After today’s Swatch TTR 5Star halfpipe event, Hannah Teter jumped 134 ranks into World No. 21, her highest rank ever. Jamie Anderson stays in World No. 1 as well as Chas Guldemond. Luke Mitrani and Stephan Maurer both entered into the Swatch TTR Top 5.
1 Mason Aguirre USA BURTON 94.17 $7,500
2 Luke Mitrani USA BURTON 93.50 $3,000
3 Markus Malin FIN BONFIRE 85.17 $1,500
4 Kevin Pearce USA BURTON 80.17 $700
5 Chas Guldemond USA DC 77.67 $350
6 Danny Davis USA BURTON 75.83 $175
1 Hannah Teter USA BURTON 91.67 $7,500
2 Paulina Ligocka POL BURTON 82.17 $3,000
3 Jamie Anderson USA BILLABONG 64.00 $1,500
The Burton Australian Open continues tomorrow with the men’s and women’s slopestyle semis and finals. For more information visit www.opensnowboarding.com. If you can’t make it to Australia, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.
Burton would like to thank Go211.com, Corona, APN, Perisher Blue and Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour for their support of the Australian Open.
MEDIA INFO:
Photo credit: Dan Himbrechts
To download hi-res images and vision go to:
ftp://ftp.burton.com.au/1_media/Aus_Open (Folder: Halfpipe Finals)
Login: ftpmedia
Password: ftpbtn15
For further media information, contact:
Mia Troy-Vowell Katrina McGarry
T: +61 414 752 562 T: +61 424 144 470
E: miat@burton.com E: katrinam@burton.com.au
About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com
About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility and innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest. Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the SWATCH TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider based on an average of their best eight results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion. For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com
About Go211.com
Go211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans. Go211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes. The current Go211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.