Janne Korpi wins O’Neill Evolution slopestyle
Janne Korpi shows Finnish finesse as he takes the slopestyle title of the O’Neill Evolution 2009.
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It was a battle that no one could have predicted: a young Belgian rider taking on the might of Finland. But Finnish finesse prevailed as Janne Korpi defied gravity to beat seventeen-year-old Seppe Smits in an epic slopestyle O’Neill Evolution 2009 final.
“I’m so stoked,” said Janne who now moves up to second place on the Swatch TTR World Tour rankings. “It’s been a long day and my legs are so tired.”
"No trick I could have done could have beaten Janne."
Seppe Smits
While the knockout round format suited the consistency and skill of Janne, it was the intimacy of the competition that he found to be more of a challenge. “I don’t really like going up against and having to battle my friends,” he said. “That’s hard.” However, he didn’t have too hard a time in the final. His three runs consisted of an fs1080, a cab1080 and then a massive bs rodeo 900. On all of them, as commentator Gian Simmen pointed out, “he stomped the landing.”
Seppe Smits
Fellow finalist Seppe seemed resigned. “There was nothing I could have done, no trick I could have done could have beaten Janne” he admitted.
But making the finals was a big achievement for the teenage Belgian. His three runs featured a bs900 mute, a huge cab 9, and a bs720. “It’s the best result I have ever got,” he said, clearly elated.
Despite his youth and his first success at this level, Seppe was calm throughout – as demonstrated by his heart-rate monitor, which remained surprisingly constant and low – unlike many of the other riders who were sporting the monitors from the quarterfinals on.
Seppe came through the knockout rounds, eliminating the likes of Iouri Podlatchikov, Kim Rune Hansen and the current Swatch TTR World Tour leader Chas Guldemond.
Despite the defeat, Chas - who was knocked out by Seppe in the semis and finished fourth - still retains his number one status. “I was so disappointed at first, but then I sat back and enjoyed the final,” he said.
And with the slopestyle winner crowned, now it’s all about the quarterpipe. Last year’s Evolution quarterpipe winner Kim Rune Hansen is excited, although also a little hesitant to get back onto it: “The quarterpipe is so scary,” he said. “I was scared last year as well. I try not to think about it too often, but because I’ve been injured a lot this season I’ve been thinking about it a bit more.”
This is the first competition for the Norwegian rider since his injury back in May 2008. “I am still getting used to things again,” he admits. But if his performance in the slopestyle is anything to go by - reaching the quarterfinals in style, only going out to Seppe Smits – he should be in top form for tonight’s final.
Stay tuned for more.
FINAL SLOPESTYLE RESULTS:
1 Janne Korpi FIN F 183.17
2 Seppe Smits BEL F 164.84
3 Kevin Backstrom SWE SF 156.00
4 Chas Guldemond USA SF 112.33
5 Peetu Piiroinen FIN QF 172.66
6 Elias Elhardt GER QF 167.50
7 Kim Rune Hansen NOR QF 160.00
8 Seb Toutant CAN QF 39.00
9 Gjermund Braaten NOR 16 164.33
10 Stefan Gimpl AUT 16 151.33
11 Jaakko Ruha FIN 16 144.17
12 Tim Humphreys USA 16 143.17
13 Maxime Henault CAN 16 115.00
14 Ulrik Badertscher NOR 16 112.67
15 Ville Uotila FIN 16 102.66
16 Mattias Nyberg SWE 16 99.34
17 Tore Holvik NOR 32 139.00
18 Antti Autti FIN 32 135.00
19 Risto Mattila FIN 32 127.50
20 Jonas Carlson SWE 32 124.84
21 Torgeir Bergrem NOR 32 123.67
22 Markus Malin FIN 32 117.34
23 Dimi De Jong NED 32 115.83
24 Gian Simmen SUI 32 104.34
25 Colin Frei SUI 32 98.17
26 Henning Marthinsen NOR 32 92.00
27 Andreas Gidlund SWE 32 89.17
28 Sindre Iversen NOR 32 82.17
29 Iouri Podladtchikov SUI 32 75.00
30 Arthur Longo FRA 32 61.50
31 Fredrik Evensen NOR 32 60.16
32 Eirik Haugo NOR 32 54.33
33 Patrick Burgener SUI Q 137.33
34 Petja Piiroinen FIN Q 137.00
35 Ethan Morgan GER Q 136.66
36 95 Wanger Mario AUT Q 126.00
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Janne Korpi wins O’Neill Evolution slopestyle (text) by HUCK HQ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
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