Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam Qualification Day - Double Time in the sunshine
Another sunny day has passed in the Horsefeathers Superpark Dachstein, and
thus the qualification for the 9th Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam. After the
energetic training yesterday, the heat was on in today’s qualification at an
incredibly high level! The once again perfectly shaped park, flawless weather
conditions and breathtaking battles made it an unforgettable day for riders as
well as for the audience. After this action-packed day, the top 20 male and the
top 7 female riders are celebrating their proceeding into tomorrow’s finals!
Today’s qualifying day of the ninth edition of the legendary Horsefeathers Pleasure
Jam already drew more visitors on the Dachstein than ever to watch the international
freestyle elite go wild. The brilliant sunshine put the Horsefeathers Superpark
Dachstein into a perfect light. The pros were unleashed on an amazing setup, which
park designer Andi Röck and his crew have conjured into the autumnal snow.
In two heats with two runs each, ‘big names’ such as Victor De Le Rue from France,
Antoine Truchon from Canada and Diana Sadlowski from Poland among many others
were doing their best to convince the jury. Both girls and boys were competing hard
and pulled out some sick runs. At the end of this exciting day, 21 boys and 7 ladies
made it to tomorrow’s finals. Apart from their starting position in the finals, today’s
winners also got some nice price money. In the boys’ category, Ville Paumola (FIN)
earned the third rank and Emil André Ulsletten (NOR) turned out second:
“I`m really stoked because I actually landed a Cab 9 and a Front 10 BS. There were
a lot of good people in my heat, like Morten Kleivtal and Jonas Steen, they booth did
a very good run! So it was a really hard to get into the finals.“
The glorious winner is Jamie Nichols (GBR), who’s already looking forward to
tomorrow’s finals:
“I’m really excited about system in the finals with its three different runs. I am looking
forward to tomorrow, but it’s not gonna be easy. Marko Grilc and Seppe Smits, for
example are both extremely stylish riders, but I’ll definitely do my best!”
Especially positive from an Austrian perspective: Thomas Feuerstein, Herby Thaler
and Peter Koenig have also qualified for tomorrow’s finals:
“I’m feeling great and I’m really surprised because I wasn’t expecting that. I had some
cool runs, a solid style run and a technical one that I actually messed up a bit. I liked
how they judged it here, the judges did a good job, more looked on stylish runs and
good landings. But I’m still surprised that I’m the best Austrian.“
The ladies’ runs were also very impressive and battled each other hard on an
unprecedented level: After gripping heats, Klaudia Medlova (SVK) won the
qualification, the Austrian Christina Gruber reached the 2nd rank and Cilka Sadar
(SLO) turned out 3rd. The secret star of the day is our youngster Katerina
Vojackova, who reached the fifth overall rank in today’s qualification and was smiling
all over her face:
“I fell so good right now at the moment. I did a Half Cap, a FS360 and a Backflip and
this was the best run of my life. I like the atmosphere here and I hope I can come to
the party tonight. But my father is here and I don`t know if he allows me to go,
because I`m only 14 …”
An additional motivating factor for tomorrow certainly is the chance to make one’s
mark in the TTR World Snowboard Tour by winning the contest on the Dachstein.
In the evening, the focus of the attention shifted from the glacier down to the valley.
After the Riders Meeting, representatives of the media and of the industry as well as
all riders are gathering for the Gala Dinner in the aQi Hotel Schladming. After that,
the crowd will go wild at the Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam Party Night in the
Dachstein Tauernhalle and prove that, from the 11th -13th November, Schladming is
the center of the freestyle world.
One thing is for sure: On the Qualifications Day, the Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam
already lives up to its reputation as THE contest opening and offers massive freestyle
action, but also an extensive programme for all party animals out there. JAM IT UP!
Stay tuned via our Live-Ticker on the Horsefeathers Pleasure Jam Facebook
Fanpage!