Day 2 at the Burton New Zealand Open

SLOPESTYLE BEATS THE ELEMENTS ON DAY TWO OF THE BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN

High winds and poor visibility delayed the start of day two of the Burton NZ Open but did little to dampen the spirits of a strong men’s field in the slopestyle qualifiers. Over 80 international riders from 13 countries took on Snow Park NZ’s new slopestyle course to earn a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals alongside some of the world’s best snowboarders.

The 800m-long course tested the riders’ skills with a variety of features, including a staircase, two massive kickers and an urban wall ride. Top scoring qualifier, Sam Hulbert (USA) went huge and stomped each of his landings, putting down a big and solid run that included back to back 900’s, seemingly immune to the testing conditions. He was just 0.17 points ahead of New Zealander Nick Brown who put down an equally impressive run.

New Zealand took four out of the 15 qualifying spots with Nick Brown (Queenstown), Nick Hyne (Queenstown), Connor Harding (Wanaka) and Neville Lapwood joining invited riders Mitch Brown, James Hamilton and Stef Zeestraten in tomorrow’s semifinals.

“The Kiwi boys killed it, said judge Ste’en Webster. “Especially the two Nicks with their usual precision rail riding and solid air. Nick Hyne actually took out the NZO slopestyle title three years ago and it’s good to see him back after his absence from last year’s Open due to injury.”

Due to the delayed start, all 22 women qualifiers will go through to tomorrow’s semi-finals, competing against back-to-back X-Games gold medalist, Jamie Anderson (USA).

The Burton NZ Open continues tomorrow (Friday) with the slopestyle semi-finals and finals followed by the invitational quarterpipe – historically a big crowd puller as some of the world’s top riders defy the laws of gravity getting massive air under floodlights to the tunes of top Kiwi DJs. For further information and full results, visit www.opensnowboarding.com

For those unable to make to Snow Park NZ, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.