Scott Big Mountain at Feiberbrunn a success!

Scott Big Mountain at Feiberbrunn a success!

In his first contest ever the German Thomas Leitner leaves his high class competitors on the Marokker mountain far behind. Two well known riders of the freeride world tour, the Tyrolean Matthias Haunholder and Sverre Liliequist from Sweden, who is currently top of the world ranking list, join him on the podium. Leitner, “I’m absolutely stunned. Last week I was one of 400 that had to qualify and now I’ve beaten the number one in the world. It’s unbelievable.” Matthias Haunholder from Walchsee says, “I’m super happy with the second place and I’m proud that I could prove my riding skills in Austria’s one and only Big Mountain contest.I had a perfect clean ride and I was extremely close. As a local, of course, it would have been awesome to finish first but maybe next year!“ On the women’s side Janette Hargin (SWE), a former alpine ski weltcup rider, takes home the victory. The Tyrolean snowboarding icon, freerider Flo Örley, finishes second. ”Perfect snow, perfect weather. There’s nothing better than to spend a day like this taking part in a Big Mountain contest and then standing on the podium in the end.” This year for the first time riders could earn important world cup points at SCOTT Big Mountain in Fieberbrunn. So it is barely surprising that in the Freeride World Tour Qualifier top riders from 18 nations were taking part. In the end, with the tough forces of nature a German rider successfully prevailedIn a Big Mountain contest, the international freeride elite athletes compete against each other. Yesterday the riders fought for the most agressive line down the Marokker mountain, which has a vertical drop of 460m. Only the start and goal are previously determined allowing flexible lines down. The riders try to find the most difficult line and fight against three merciless factors: mountain, clock and jury. The clock forces the riders to find the fastest and most direct line down the contest mountain, wich is up to 70 degrees steep.Thomas Leitner could finally live up to the jury’s expectations with a spectacular, aggressive, fluid line but also was able to control his ride and is now the new SCOTT Big Mountain king 2009.