The most prestigious event in the new school Skiing calendar, the Orage Freeski Open came to a close in Laax, Switzerland, on Saturday as the next generation of champion two plankers took to the podium for 2008.
25 year old Swiss skier Virginie Faivre stood out the most: she won the women's Slopestyle for the third year in a row; despite being small in stature the Montreux native won a total of 85.40 points out of 100, with an epic second run - a huge corked 540, a mute switch 360 and a corked 360 mute over the huge kickers on the Crap Sogn Gion located course. Australian Anna Segal gave her a run (aherm) for her money with a total of 83.80 points, followed by the USA's Kristi Leiskanen in third.
It was Canadian Sarah Burke who dominated the Halfpipe finals on Friday - having already won the US Open and X Games titles this season. Under bluebird skies in the Swiss Alp resort she beat the other five finalists with perfect 900 spins to take 91.20 points out of 100 to win the Orage Freeski Halfpipe title. Fellow Candian Rosalind Groenewoud took second, while Jennifer Hudak, from the USA, took third.
For full results go to www.laax.com/freeskiopen and www.orageski.com/oefol.
Images: © Philip Ruggli
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