13 January 2010

Full report (video + portfolio) of the Red Bull Linecatcher 2010 with the victory of Candide Thovex.

"It is the contest I have imagined and here we are, it is the D day. We can say we were there!" said Julien Régnier, creator of the Linecatcher event. For this second edition, the action was taking place in Vars, France. 14 riders, 3 runs (best one counts), a bunch of kickers and fresh powder. It is exeptionnal. We are in Vars, with good conditions and some of the best skiers in the world.

First thing: Candide Thovex and Sean Pettit's third runs. We could spend a lot of time analysing these two runs. Candide's run is a "Thovexian run": fast, smooth, perfect. Even if his last landing was not clean (" I did not land it" said Candide. We'll leave that for the perfectionists to talk about...) Julien Regnier commented "It is almost impossible to land a backflip of that intensity" This victory remembered us his slopestyle gold medal at the XGames. Unexpected but so evident! It was his first contest after his injury, he was competing against the best skiers and he won... Congrats !

Sean Pettit's run was really impressive too. "The 360 on the cliff, it was sick, first track, nothing was shaped, he landed it clean" said Julien. What made the difference between Sean and Candide is the transfer in Candide's run that makes it more fluid. But Sean wins the best trick ! We can say the podium is surprising: 2 skiers who have been badly injured (CR spent weeks in a coma) and a 17 year old who impresses everyone!

" We have the best skiers, skiing real mountains" Tanne Hall

Results Linecatcher 2010
1 er Candide THOVEX (FRA)
2 e Sean PETTIT (CAN)
3 e CR JOHNSON (USA)
4 e Sage CATTABRIGA-ALOSA (USA)
5 e Bene MAYR (GER)
6e JP AUCLAIR (CAN)
7e Chris BOOTH (AUS)
8e Fabien MAIERHOFER (FRA)
9e Mathieu IMBERT (FRA)
10e Richard PERMIN (FRA)
NC Anthony BORONOWSKI (CAN)
NC Tim DURTSCHI (USA)
NC Victor GALUCHOT (FRA)
NC Sven KUEENLE (GER)
NC Léo TAILLEFER (FRA)
NC Martin SÖDERBERG (SWE)