The Riderscup

Thovex and Schiller play the casting directors... 

THE SCOOP : Candide Thovex and TJ Schiller, the two stars of freestyle ski, are the two team captains who will compete on the Riderscup : Candide Thovex is the captain for Europe's team, TJ Schiller is the captain of America's Team. 

The Riderscup ? It's a unique format of ranking per team, where the Europeans compete the Americans on a Big Air and a Half pipe. 

2 days of competitions, 2 teams and 1 continent will win!

Judgement day: the judges call the shots!

A mix of 4 judges (2 Americans and 2 Europeans) will take it in turns in groups of 3 to judge the Big Air and the Half-Pipe competitions (2 Europeans and 1 American, or 1 European and 2 Americans). To avoid any misunderstandings and make things clearer for all concerned, each run will now be scored by the judges raising a coloured flag which corresponds with the colour of the winning rider’s vest.

Tactics: a strategy is essential for the 2 captains
On Saturday 3 January, the battle selection will take place. One captain will select one of his riders. The opposing team captain will then name the rider from his team to face him in the battle the next day. Then it will be the other captain’s turn to choose one of his riders. And so on until 8 freestyle pairs have been chosen.

2 rounds to win points
16 riders battle it out 2 by 2 in the Big Air competition. On the agenda: 8 runs to score points. In the event of a draw, it’s the 2 rookies who will decide the outcome. At the end of the 2 rounds, the points will be counted. After the first assessment, it’s back for revenge the following day…

It’s all to play for in the Half-Pipe
This time the 16 riders battle it out on the XXL Half-Pipe, in the same format as the Big Air. The team with the most points from the two events will win the first ever Tignes Airwaves Riderscup and will share the prize money.
North America or Europe? Which team will win the first ever Tignes Airwaves Riderscup?

Big Ski : All about Mogul's

THE LEGEND NEVER DIES!

 Tignes, always ahead on the matter of developing new snowsports, organize in 1979 a new snowsport competition of hot dog for the World Championship; the first of a long series, and the 27th edition that took place last year.

Since then, Tignes a also organized the first freestyle ski world championship in 1986, then the Mogul's comeptition for the Olympic Games in 1992. We all remember Edgar grospiron who spectacularly won on February 13 in Tignes...

THE OBVIOUS RESULT...

Wednesday janueary 7, 2009, for the first time, the mogul's enter the Tignes Airwaves, with the best mogul's riders : 8 skiers, amongst the 15 best riders in the world, are invited to ride the Big Ski of the Tignes Airwaves. Names are already in the air... 

A Man to Man format: The skiers go 2 by 2 on the Mogul's piste and will compete on 2 rounds (roundtrip).  The best run counts. Then the 1/4 final, the 1/2 final, the small finale and the big final will take place to choose the best Big Ski rider.

• Runs are very short, 15 to 20 seconds maximum and end with a Big Air to allow riders to show us their most spectacular jumps. 
  
• Judgment is made with the flags.Un jugement au drapeau

IT'S OFFICIAL. THEY WILL COME TO TIGNES

They confirm they will attend the big ski competition: the  french Guilbaut COLAS (FRA) , Sho KASHIMA (USA), Nathan ROBERTS (USA), David DIGRAVIO (USA). Other names are coming soon…

A dream casting!

The mountain bikers will fight on the  Fourcross of Tignes
After one season in the world of motocross, The 2007 winner of the four cross, Karim AMOUR himself, decided to come back and he will be here on Tuesday January 6th for the fourcross of the Tignes Airwaves 2009.
The french Stéphane JANY, winner of the season 4, will put back his title on the game, the Deutsch Guido TSCHUGG, the french Romain SALADINI and Rémi « Mitch » THIRION, and the british Josh BRYCELAND confirmed they will come.

The best women skiercrosser will land in Tignes
The Tignarde Méryll BOULANGEAT (FRA), Ophélie DAVID (FRA), Marion JOSSERAND (FRA), Noriko FUKUSHIMA (JPN), Karin HUTTARY (AUT), Sereina MURK (SUI), Emilie SERAIN (SUI), Julia MURRAY (CAN), Katrin MUELLER (SUI), Gro KVINLOG (NOR), Hedda BERNSTEN (NOR) and Michelle GREIG (NZ).

And the men as well will be there
Lars LEWEN (SWE), Tommy ELIASSON (SWE), Klaus WALDNER (AUT), Matt ANDI (AUT), Enak GAVAGGIO (FRA), Richard SPALINGER (SUI), Mike SCHMID (SUI), Stanley HAYER (CAN), Xavier KUHN (FRA), Robin LENEL (FRA) Davey BARR (CAN), Christian CRETIER (FRA), Ted PICCARD (FRA), Chriss DEL BOSCO (CAN), Kenji KONO (JPN), Toshiyuki DOI (JPN), Andreas STEFFEN (SUI), Alois MANI (SUI), Conradign NETZER (SUI), Thomas VONGUTTEN (SUI), Casey PUCKETT (USA), Audum GROENVOLD (NOR), Zdenek ZAFAR (CZE) et Errol KERR (JAM).