Air Style Interview- Seppe Smits

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Air & Style Interview: Seppe Smits

Red Bull

Air & Style Interview: Seppe Smits

by Kirsten Corrigan , Feb 9, 2011

Sitting comfortably in fourth place overall in the TTR World Rankings, Seppe Smits is looking ahead to this weekend with an air of confidence. The 6Star Nike 6.0 Air & Style Munich contest follows last weekend’s round in Innsbruck, Austria, where the rider finished in fifth place after being knocked out by current table leader Peetu Piiroinen (FIN).

“In the first round, I was against Pat Burgener (SUI) and then in the second round Peetu,” says Smits. “I did a Cab 12 in the first run then I knew that wouldn’t be enough next time so I did a Cab 1440 and still didn’t make it with that. There were no more options left for me. I landed the best trick I could do. I pushed myself further than I was capable of doing before - I’d never done a 1440 before so I was stoked on landing!”

Missing out on the podium in Austria didn’t affect Smits’ place in the overall standings and he remains in the top five going into the Munich contest, held at the famed Olympic Stadium. In the next stop of the tour, Smits will compete among a field of 16 riders all looking to claim the elusive ‘Ring of Glory’ awarded to the contest winner.

“We’ll see how far I can get and I’ll do what I need to - I’ll do my best,” states Smits, who took some time out after Innsbruck to recharge his batteries. “I won’t have much chance to practice but there will be time to go on the jump today. Europe is actually pretty poor for snow at the moment so I’ve been relaxing and trying to get some energy to be ready for the next Air & Style.”

After watching the standard of snowboarding reach new heights last weekend, Smits is motivated to raise his game. Now he’s dropped his first 1440 he’s eager to refine that trick and has also kept a close eye on his fellow riders to see how other podium hopefuls are progressing.

"The higher the level the more I want to learn new tricks and get better at snowboarding.”

“It’s always really fun to watch the other guys and see what other battles are going down,” he enthuses. “There were a lot of impressive competitors at Innsbruck. Sage Kotsenburg (USA) was riding really well and definitely Torgeir Bergrem, the Norwegian guy who came through from the Rookie Challenge and made it to the second round. He was really killing it, Peetu was killing it… everyone was throwing down. The higher the level, the more I want to learn new tricks and get better at snowboarding.”

For the 2011 season, Smits says his goal is to remain in the top five of the TTR ranking for the whole year. If he can drop his 1440 right second time around he might just reach the podium in Munich this weekend.