Beijing, China – Canadian rider Sebastien Toutant was crowned the winner of the inaugural Oakley Shaun White Air & Style Beijing snowboard competition Saturday night in China, a 6Star Swatch TTR event. He walked away with a large share of the $100,000 USD prize purse, the coveted Air & Style Ring of Glory and 1,000 TTR World Ranking points.nWith his win, Toutant advanced in the TTR World Rankings to the World No. 3 position. Another young gun, Seppe Smits of Belgium, took the second place podium spot and German Elias Elhardt walked away in third.

Snowboarders from around the world made the trip to Beijing for the first major event of the Swatch TTR season, where they put on a spectacular display of top-level riding for a crowd of excited Chinese fans. The riders were pleased with the massive gap jump setup built out of scaffolding, which had riders dropping in from 130 feet above the ground in the city’s Olympic Sports Center Stadium.

The Air & Style events feature a unique head-to-head format and Toutant, who won the event with a Cab 1260 double cork, overtook Smits in the final round, beating his respectable backside 1260 for second place.

“It’s awesome, I think it’s by far the best moment of my life, for sure,” said an ecstatic Toutant, better known to his fans as “Seb Toots.” “My first 6Star win, I’m stoked to be in China for the first time. Couldn’t have been better than to win the event today!”

Elhardt was awarded third place for his backside 1080 double cork, a trick that has now become a staple in professional snowboarding competition.

With 6Star World Ranking points available, there was some major movement in the Swatch TTR Top 20 following Saturday night’s competition. With a healthy lead coming into this event, Norwegian rider Gjermund Braaten maintains his World No. 1 position, but he has some competition hot on his heels. Not only does Braaten have a major threat, Sebastien Toutant, not far behind him in World No. 3, but also Smits was able to maintain his World No. 2 spot with his second place finish at the Air & Style Beijing. Other notable changes in the ranking are Norwegian up and comer, Stale Sandbech, moving into World No. 4, Norway’s Mikkel Bang (NOR) is now World No. 5 and Marko Grilc of Slovenia is now sitting in World No. 6. American riders Scotty Lago and Eric Willet gained some momentum in the World Rankings with Lago in World No. 15 and Willet in World No. 12.

With the Air & Style Beijing wrapped up, all eyes will now shift to the 6Star O’Neill Evolution taking place Jan. 2-8, 2011 in Davos, Switzerland, which will be followed by the 6Star Burton European Open scheduled for Jan. 8-15.