Russ Henshaw dominated at the Planai.

Great action from 30 of the worlds best Freeskiers was shown last weekend in Schladming. The 4th edition of the Völkl Newschool Picknick presented by Marker was a great success with spectacular jumps in front of a stoked crowd. Russ Henshaw from Australia came first in front of Bene Mayer from Germany and Switzerland’s Elias Ambühl.

Due to heavy wind nobody expected to see many hard tricks that day. But after a few training runs the riders pushed each other and soon a great session was going on. The huge kicker setup, built by park guru Bernd Mandlberger, left plenty of airtime for some of the sickest tricks ever seen. Qualification started right after the training at noon and soon some of the favourites for the night finals were spotted. With a double cork 1080 Russ Henshaw from Jindabyne / Australia scored highest after qualification. In total 10 riders from six different nations made it to the night finals.

But before the show could go on, the 10 finalists showed up at the Blue Tomato shop for an
autographing session. In between the Planai stadium turned into the perfect night arena, thanks to the 1400-lux of floodlight. Every rider had three runs – the best two counted. Because the riders wanted to have a super final, the best four Newschool Skier that evening had to go up again for another three runs. At the end it was Russ Henshaw again, who impressed most. With a double cork 1080 and a switch double cork 1080 there was no doubt about it. After his famous victory at the Red Bull Playstreets a few weeks ago, he also won the Völkl Newschool Picknick presented by Marker for the first time in his young career.

Coming second was 19 year old Bene Mayer from Munich / Germany. Bene sticked a switch misty 900 and a double flat spin 900. With the last jump of the day, a perfect landed switch double rodeo 1080, Elias Ambühl from Laax / Switzerland got third. Straight after the prize giving ceremony, the party crowd moved to the Tenne for some Après Ski hits.

1.Russ Henshaw (AUS)
2.Bene Mayr (GER)
3.Elias Ambuhl (CH)
4.Pekka Hyysalo (FIN)
5.Patrick Hollaus (AUT)

Words and Photos courtesy of Volkl/Marker