Founder of Air&Style AndrewSina Sports News On the morning of December 3, Beijing time, a press conference for the world’s top snowboarding event "Air&Style" was held at the National Stadium (Bird’s Nest) in Beijing. Over the next two days, 24 of the world’s top snowboarders will compete at the Bird’s Nest in an unprecedented grand event.
Air&Style is the Chinese name for the international top-tier snowboarding competition Air&Style, which has been popular in Europe for 17 years. It first came to China in December 2010 and has been successfully held in Beijing for five editions. This edition of the Air&Style competition in Beijing is part of the TTR World Snowboard Tour and is classified as a TTR 6-Star event, also known as the Beijing World Snowboarding Championships. The event will also be held in Beijing for five consecutive years (2015–2019).
This year’s competition features 24 of the world’s top snowboarders from nine countries and regions, including Norway and Sweden. Among them are 2014 Beijing Air&Style champion Emil Ulsletten and 2013 Beijing champion Sven Thorgren, along with many other top athletes. Chinese rider He Wei will compete in the main Air&Style event for the third time representing China.
Founder of Air&Style Andrew said at today’s press conference that there will be significant adjustments to this year’s format. Qualifiers will be held on the 4th, where the 24 top riders will compete to determine the top 16 who will move on to the one-on-one head-to-head finals on the 5th.
This year’s event will feature the new “Red Bull Best Trick Award” for the first time, where the rider with the highest single jump score throughout the competition will win a $5,000 prize. Additionally, as a traditional part of the Air&Style event, three domestic metal bands — Yu Band, Logic Lab, and Yuan Tu Band — will perform.
This year’s event will use liquid nitrogen technology for snow-making at the venue for the first time. This new snow-making technique is not limited by temperature and offers high efficiency and consistent quality. Hai Zhenwen, director of the Beijing Municipal Sports Competition Management Center, said that this snow-making technology has been widely used in similar international events, and he hopes this new technology can break through time limitations for snow sports and offer spectators a more comfortable viewing experience.
Currently, the snow-making work for the Bird’s Nest Air&Style event is largely complete, and preliminary debugging of lighting equipment and TV broadcast signals has also been carried out. (New Sports)