It was third time lucky in Zurich as they were finally blessed with good weather after two years of bad weather. It was also down to local boy (and stand-out rider of last season – my opinion) Elias Ambuhl to take the crown of Freestyle.ch 2011 Champion but it wasn’t without it’s struggles. 16 year old ripper, and also local boy, Kai Mahler push Ambuhl all the way to the end. It was a hard fought contest so who won?

Lets start with the qualifications. There were 16 riders involved and they had to be cut in half. Not literally of course but the sums all work out in the end! The 8 riders knocked out after qualifying were:

Jacob Wester, PK Hunder, Antto Ollila, Jon Olsson, Frido Fredricsson, Phil Casabon, James Woods and Kevin Rolland. That meant the 8 riders competiing in the semi finals would be Elias Ambuhl, Kai Mahler, Andreas Hatveit, Tom Wallisch, Alex Schlopy, Gus Kenworthy, Markus Eder and Jossi Wells.

http://mpora.com/videos/uSyPoUPGX
freestyle.ch 2011: Qualification – Freeski >>

The semi finals boiled down to 4 names that were just incredible. Elias Ambuhl, Kai Mahler, Jossi Wells and Andreas Hatveit. Kai threw down switch cork 5s and a double misty 1260 while Jossi was landing switch double 10s. Elias was worried after failing to land his first two double cork 1440s but it was third time lucky for him and he rode away clean. Andreas used his new switch funky flip reverse mute to complete the final quartet.

http://mpora.com/videos/tGmcQua3C
MPORA Action Sports >>

The final was a slightly different format as the riders were given two runs and the best run counted. Elias came straight out and killed it by landing his double cork 14 mute so the pressure was clearly on the other three. Andreas stomped a double 10 mute with Jossi following him with a switch double 10 safety. Kai landed a double misty 1260 mute to heap the pressure on Elias. Was it enough to knock him off the top spot or not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lj08Jj82nU

In the end Elias claimed his first Freestyle.ch crown with a score of 93.75! Final results are:

1. Elias Ambuhl – 93.75
2. Kai Mahler – 90.50
3. Jossi Wells – 86.00
4. Andreas Hatveit – 82.25

After one hell of a weekend we can be sure of one thing. Elias is looking as good as he did last year and Kai Mahler looks like he’ll be creating quite a buzz this season with a fair few podium finishes.