With Saturday’s result Podladtchikov lept into World No. 2 in the TTR World Snowboard Tour rankings. It remains to be seen if he can narrow the gap to the coveted No. 1 spot in the upcoming events.
Stomping a clean second run consisting of a Cab 1080 double cork mute, frontside 1080 tailgrab, Cab 720 mute, frontside 540 tail and backside air, Podladtchikov had reason to be content with Saturday’s performance. It bumped him up the TTR Ranking ahead of fellow Swiss rider Christian Haller, who did not make it to Calgary.
“I want to go further up of course, but it's going to be really hard because Peetu (Piiroinen, of Finland) is in the lead with 120 TTR points I think. But there are still some events and it is possible and I am really looking forward to the next events. It's been a good year and I want to stay there for sure and not move down anymore.”
Podladtchikov will also have to watch out for Finland's Markus Malin, who took third place Saturday and jumped six places into World No. 6. Malin excelled by unleashing a crowd-pleasing double cork at the end of his run. Another rider eager to catch up to Podladtchikov is a young Norwegian, Stale Sandbech, who did not land either of his runs in the semifinals on Saturday.
In the women's competition, New Zealand’s Kendall Brown flew the highest Saturday and landed a stylish lien air, backside 540 mute, frontside 540 stalefish, backside air and air to fakie. But it was Norway's Lisa Wiik who took the spotlight on the TTR Tour by moving into World No. 2 with her 5th place finish, with Sina Candrian of Switzerland sitting right behind her in rank three. Slovenia's Cilka Sadar also improved her ranking by one spot and to sit in World No. 4. Recent winner of the slopestyle format of the 6Star Burton European Open and Roxy Chicken Jam, Enni Rukajärvi of Finland, finished 8th in Saturday’s halfpipe format to sit in World No. 6.
Official Results
TTR World Snowboard Tour
Burton Canadian Open Snowboard Championships
Calgary Olympic Park - Calgary, AB, Canada
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010
Halfpipe Women
1 Kendall Brown NZL
2 Sarah Conrad CAN
3 Mercedes Nicoll CAN
Halfpipe Men
1 Iouri Podladtchikov SUI
2 Justin Lamoureux CAN
3 Markus Malin FIN
