Innsbruck, Austria – Pro snowboarder Seppe Smits of Belgium took home the TTR Big Air Tour Trophy 2012 on Saturday night by coming in second in the 6Star Billabong Air& Style held at the Bergisel Stadium in Innsbruck behind Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen. Smits was closely followed by Niklas Mattsson of Sweden, who claimed the third podium spot.
“Winning the Big Air Tour Trophy was unexpected, I was very happily surprised,” Smits said following the contest.
Piiroinen, a three-time TTR Tour winner, immediately offered his congratulations to Smits after winning Saturday night’s contest with a clean and stylish Backside 1260 mute grab. Piiroinen is back on the tour after wrestling with injury, but is again landing all his tricks with exceptional ease.
“It was a great night, and it felt really good being here,” said Piiroinen. “This was definitely one of the hardest competitions for me, with everyone stomping it.”
An estimated 12,500 spectators set fire to the Bergisel stadium for one of the most thrilling Air&Style competitions. A gripping final was the perfect conclusion of an action packed night. With final scores not more than 0.6 points apart, it was clear the riders gave it their all.
American rider Eric Willett earned the second highest score of the night with a Switch Backside 1260 Double Cork Mute Grab, worth 94.0 points, but failed to make the Superfinal after encountering Piiroinen in the second round. He had the biggest chance of winning the TTR World Tour Big Air title, but missing the Superfinal on Saturday night allowed Smits to claim the championship.
Saturday’s performances had a major influence on the TTR Overall Tour Ranking, with Canada’s Seb Toutant now leading the pack, and Stale Sandbech of Norway, Finland’s Roope Tonteri, Smits and Willett all moving up to round out the top five.
The TTR World Tour will move to Oslo, Norway from February 10-19, crowning male and female Halfpipe and Slopestyle World Champions at the World Snowboarding Championships.