Europe’s most prestigious freeskiing competition, the Jon Olsson Super Sessions, returns to Åre, Sweden, as teams of elite freestyle skiers compete to make the best short ski movie. Here’s a rundown of the Lucky Numbers.
21...
of the world’s best freeskiing athletes and 12 of the world’s finest ski film makers come together for 14 days of skiing, partying and fun with the aim of capturing the whole spectacle on film. The teams are led by Simon Dumont (USA), TJ Schiller (Canada), Andreas Håtveit (Norway), Elias Ambuhl (Switzerland, representing Team Europe), Oscar Scherlin (Sweden), Russ Henshaw (Australia, representing Team Down Under) and Matt Walker (USA, representing Team Newschoolers).
5...
amazing features for the athletes to tackle: they are the FOI Jump, the Hip, the step over kicker (“An amazing addition to the JOSS features,” says Jon) and the Red Bull Jib Garden – a special urban playground where the athletes can let their imagination run wild. It has a down rail, a huge box, a "marshmallow" hand drag set-up, a big gap to down box and a barrel tap, among some other choice features, plus there’s a ost of additions to the Åre resort. “Seeing how much everyone loved doing a lot of urban last year, we have built a few special things for the teams to play around on,” adds Jon. “Creativity is the main word!”
1,500...
cubic metres of snow have been used to build the jump for the Jon Olsson Invitational on Thursday, April 15. The JOI brings together all the JOSS athletes, plus Jon and special guests Pekka Hyysalo (Finland), Laurent Favre (France), Corey Vanular (USA) and the top two finishers from the Comviq Swedish Open held the previous day. “This will be a traditional step down jump, very close to the kicker that I built in Tandådalen to learn the Tornado on, only a little bigger,” explains Jon. “Short steep in-run makes this kicker very weather safe and fun to hit. Expect this to be the trickbuster where all the riders bring out their every trick!”
7...
teams of three skiers pooled from seven nations. The teams are: Sweden, Norway, Europe, Down Under, Newschoolers, USA and Canada. Each team is made up of five people, two filmers, two pro skiers and a rookie skier. The rookie category is new addition for 2010. To qualify as a rookie, you can’t have taken part in the X-Games before this year. They are Alex Schlopy and LJ Strenio (USA), Sigbjørn Tveit (Norway), Oscar Harlaut and Niklas Eriksson (Sweden), Ian Cosco (Canada) and Dhanu Danger Sherpa (Australia).
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hours for the teams to capture five minutes of brilliant and entertaining footage. The teams have the whole of Åre to play in as the area has been embellished with lights, winches and generators, plus there’s the rails, jumps and boxes in Östersund to explore.
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points in total are available from the judges in the video competition. Points are awarded in the following five categories: style tricks (up to 16 points), tech tricks (up to 16 points), urban (up to 16 points), filming (up to 16 points) and overall (up to 32 points). There’s awards for best crash, best trick, but the overall winner will take home a substantial cash prize.
5...
the number of Jon Olsson Invitationals held since 2005, but more importantly the number of minutes you should spend in an ice-cold shower to treat all those bumps, bruises and muscle fatigue after a hard day on the slopes. “Totally mega sucks!” explains Jon. The photographic evidence is here.
Follow the Photo Blog at josupersessions.com
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