I guess its time to reveal some info about what will be happing in the spring in Åre, I mean I have to do something, otherwise I would not have 10000 e mails every morning and I would get very bored! ;-)

The events in Åre has always had its main focus on the riders, so when we asked them what they wanted and 9 out of 10 said the same thing it was a pretty easy decision, JOSS will take a one year break and give room for an “all in” Big Air event- JOI will be back just like in 2007 to give the guys the best possibilities ever to learn new tricks and push the limits to what can be done!

The perfection of JOI 2007 kicker…

It seemed that most guys had been missing the unique possibilities that they had during JOI 2007, where they had one kicker to session for a week enabling them to really progress and figure new things out as we as organizers had more time to perfect one kicker instead of trying to build 5 of them. As the ski world always wants new things I thought it was a good year to do this to give JOSS a breather so it could come back fresh again for next year. I think it would be a perfect concept to alternate JOSS and JOI every year t keep it fresh and exciting!

New for this year is that invite system, 15 riders will be invited and another 15 spots will be open for video qual. As you know we have always wanted to give “up and comers” the chance to qual to JOI, but I think having 50% of the start field qual through video will really change things up!

Since we all know judging and formats has been a bit of an issue this year I have thought long and hard about what to do with that and I believe that I have come up with a solution that could handle a lot of these issues!

Qual:
-30 skiers take 2 runs, best one counts. 10 moves on. (+ 2 wildcards)

Final:
-12 skiers take one run, top 10 advances
-10 skiers take one run, top 8 advances.
-8 skiers take one run, top 6 advances.
-6 skiers take one run, top 4 advances.
-4 Skiers take two runs, best one counts.

In this way the judges only have to look for the 2 worst skiers every run, which should make things a lot easier to get it right. Then in finals you have room to fall once so you can really bust out your best stuff and go for it! You never know before you tried it, but I am very excited about this format!

Preliminary schedule:
12th of April: Tuesday: Skiers arrive, training 16-21
13th of April Wednesday: Training 16-21
14th of April Thursday: Training 16-21
15th of April Friday: Nations cup 18-21
16th of April Saturday JOI 19-21
17th of April Sunday: Red Bull Home run
18th of April Monday: Departure day.

Hope you guys like it! I know some will miss the JOSS movies, but don’t worry, JOSS will be back next year bigger then ever!
Then again, the best skiers in the works on the same kicker for a week should create some insane skiing, some might remember what JOI 2007 looked like and with how far this sport has come since then I cant even think of what will go down in Åre on the 16th of April! I actually don’t think a dub 12 will get you into finals… ;-)

Time for me to get some breakfast before I head on out for a session of GS!