[Above: Marcus Kleveland. All photos: Sami Tuoriniemi.]
The 2016 edition of Air + Style Innsbruck wrapped up this weekend combining some progressive shredding with a packed music line up and some annoyingly persistent wind, which sadly forced much of the snowboarding to be cut short.
With the organisers moving the Air + Style from the hallowed grounds of the Bergisel stadium to an open car park nearby this year – presumably to create more of a festival atmosphere for the attendees – strong winds gusting through the valley were a constant niggling problem for the riders throughout the day.
Nevertheless, the show went on and despite the blustery conditions, the riders adapted and sent it deep anyway. The 16 top from qualifying were divided up into two groups for Round 2, with the first group riding in the afternoon and the second being pushed back until the evening in the hope that the wind would piss off.
This was sadly not to be, and after a bunch of deliberation from the riders and organisers, the subsequent rounds were canned, and the highest three combined scores from round 2 were used to determine the podium.
Torgeir Bergrem was on fire in his heat, and sent a backside triple cork 1440 about as deep as was possible on the landing to do enough for the bronze, while 16 year old Marcus Kleveland claimed his first Air + Style medal with a perfect cab double cork 1440 tail and backside triple cork 1440. But it was Sebastien Toutant’s consistently huge tricks that the judges deemed the best of the day – a bolts backside triple cork 1440 indy and cab 1440 Stalefish stomped to perfection.
Even though the riding was cut painfully short, thanks to conditions that the kite surfers in the crowd would have been absolutely frothing over, Air + Style Innsbruck was still a blast, with the heavy beats of Rudimental rounding out a killer day of snowboarding and music.
Next stop, Air + Style Los Angeles! Scroll on down for a buncha blustery bangers from our Photo Ed, Sami Tuoriniemi…
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