Mark McMorris during practice at the TTR Oakley and Shaun White Air & Style Beijing 2011 (photo Oakley and Shaun White Air & Style Beijing)

Practice day at the TTR Oakley and Shaun White Air & Style Beijing 2011 (photo Oakley and Shaun White Air & Style Beijing)

Date: 2.12.2011
Updated: 2.12.2011 06:21

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Perfect riding conditions and stellar first round duels at the Oakley Shaun White Air & Style Beijing 2011: Seb Toutant and Mark McMorris to meet qualification riders / Torstein Horgmo vs. Sage Kotsenburg

The Chinese name for Air & Style means “Boiling Snow.” The 24 elite riders at the Oakley Shaun White Air & Style Beijing 2011 are burning to bring the snow and the crowd in the Bird´s Nest stadium and around the world to a piping hot rolling boil! Everything is set in the stadium. A perfect kicker perched high in the famous Bird’s Nest and is ready to launch the world’s greatest riders into flight for the world´s premier snowboarding event, and the heat started cranking up in Thursday’s and Friday’s practice sessions. The draw for first round pairs kicked it off by setting up challenging battles, right from the beginning.  The battle for the Air & Style title and the legendary Ring of Glory, with it’s 1,000 TTR points and incalculable reputation boost, looks to be one for the ages:

Seb Toutant vs.. 4th of qualification
Mark McMorris vs.. 3rd of qualification
Seppe Smits vs.. 1st of qualification
Torstein Horgmo vs.. Sage Kotsenburg
Nils Arvidsson vs.. Ethan Morgan                       
Eric Willett vs.. 4th of qualification
Mikkel Bang vs.. Marko Grilc
Ulrik Badertscher vs.. Gjermund Braaten

With Roope Tonteri currently leading both the TTR Big Air Tour and Overall Tour Rankings due to his two Big Air results earlier this season, the battle for the lead is going to be exciting this weekend. Both Eric Willett and Seb Toots have a good chance of moving to the number one position in the Big Air ranking when they claim a 7th and 4th place here in Beijing. Seb is of course expected to fight for the title after bringing it home last year and Eric is no stranger to the head-to-head Big Air format. Roope will have to find a way into the top 10, to maintain his lead. Currently lacking a Big Air result, Belgian Big Air powerhouse, Seppe Smits, finished second here in Beijing last year and will be bringing his A-game in search of the win.