Davos,Switzerland, Thursday January 5, 2012 - Heavy snow arrived asforecast this morning at the TTR 6 Star O'Neill Evolution Big Air and Railevent in Davos, coinciding with the first round of Men's Qualification. Allthree Round 1 Qualification Heats were completed, cutting the Men's field from75 to 30 riders who move on to the second round. At times, the fresh snowcreated speed issues, but did little to dampen the level as British rider,Billy Morgan, put down the score of the day with a double backside rodeo to gappedcab 270 on the kinked rail.
It'shard to describe the atmosphere here in Davos for the O'Neill Evolution. It'seven harder to imagine how hard it is snowing. A testament to an immense effortfrom the organizers, shapers, event staff and above all, the riders, the firstround of qualifications were completed on schedule. It was a surreal experienceto see the look of concentration on competitors' faces as they focused on theirheat, soon replaced by a look of elation as they arrived back at the contestsite after a powder run.
TheNight Final event lights were illuminated from the start of the first 09:00training session and remained switched on all day to assist visibility. Beforethe snowfall intensified, the overnight fine-tuning of the main kicker wastested with broad approval from riders, before speed became an issue resultingin the optional line to rail set up favoured by the contestants.
In a two-run, best run counts format, the top 10 riders from each heat made itthrough to Round 2 of Men's Qualification. Some of the runs of the day asscored by the judges included:
Heat 1:
Sven Thorgren(SWE) - Backside Double Cork 1080 to gapped stalefish to nose press
Jamie Nicholls(GBR) - Backside 540 crail to gapped Cab 270 to frontside boardslide
Ethan Morgan(GER)- Frontside 720 tailgrab tofrontside tailslide on the down rail
Heat 2:
Markus Mathis(SUI) - BacksideDouble Cork 1080 mute to frontside tail slide to revert on the wall
Petja Piiroinen (FIN) - Backside Double Cork1080 mute to frontside 50-50 on thewall.
Emil Ulsletten(NOR) - Frontside 1080 melon to frontside tail blunt to 270 out on the down rail
Heat 3:
Billy Morgan(GBR) - Double Backside Rodeo to gap cab 270 on the kinked rail
Ville Uotila(FIN) - Frontside 1080 Mute to gapped backside lip slide
Rocco Van Straten(NDL) - Backside Double Cork 1080 to frontside boardslide onthe down rail