Beautiful blue skies greeted the Burton European Open today for the men’s and women’s slopestyle finals competition where seasoned slopestyle pro Jamie Anderson (USA) and up-and-coming Finnish rider Roope Tonteri took home first place, valuable points towards both the BGOS and TTR titles and $15,000 cash each.

The ladies kicked things off with six women from four different countries competing for a coveted spot on the BEO podium. All the ladies had three chances to put together their best run. But in the end, it turned out that the riders’ first runs were their best. Jamie Anderson earned the highest score of the contest with a backside tailslide, Millerflip, tailblunt to fakie, switch boardslide to 5-0 and a backside alley oop in the quarterpipe, finishing things off on the kickers with a backside 360 mute grab, frontside 360 melon grab and a backside 180 Japan grab. Jamie is no stranger to the BEO podium where she won the women’s slopestyle title back in 2008. With her win today, Jamie moves into the Swatch TTR World Tour lead and has set herself up nicely for making a run at the 2010/11 TTR Tour Champion title, which will be awarded at the Burton US Open in March. Swiss rider and Laax local Sina Candrian took second place in BEO slopestyle for the third year in a row. Sina scored just behind Jamie by less than two points with back-to-back 360s and a frontside 720, which was one of the highest-scoring tricks of the women’s competition. Jordie Karlinski (USA) was on the BEO podium for the first time, earning third place.

“The event was super fun today, and I’m so glad I could put my run together,” said Jamie Anderson. “I did a new trick on the first rail, a backside tailslide, so I’m glad that worked out.

Now it was the men’s turn to take on the slopestyle course. Ten riders had three runs to get their best score. Roope Tonteri (FIN) shook up the men’s podium on his last run, beating competition powerhouse Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) by less than three tenths of a point. Roope won the BEO slopestyle title, his first major contest win ever, with an impressive run that included a pivot 270 out, backside 360 nose bonk, alley oop 50-50, gap to boardslide, backside 720 mute grab, Cab 900 indy grab and backside double cork 1260, finishing things off with a jaw-dropping Cab 1440 indy grab. Roope had the highest scoring tricks of the men’s competition, sealing his victory and first Burton European Open title. Last year’s BEO slopestyle champion Peetu Piiroinen almost had today’s competition on lock-down, but his best run, which included high-scoring tricks on the kickers like a backside double cork 1080 mute grab, backside rodeo 900 nose grab and a Cab 1260 mute grab were not enough to win it. Peetu took home second place followed by Chas Guldemond (USA) in third.

Right after the competition, Roope still seemed in shock about his win. “I’ll need some time to realize what happened,” said Roope. “I’m very happy to have landed the 1440 because I’ve only done it once before. Here in Laax at the BEO, everything is so amazing, and winning today is like a dream.”

The Burton European Open also marks the kick-off of a year-long qualification period for the World Snowboarding Championships taking place in Oslo, Norway in February 2012. Every rider who wins a TTR 6Star title over the next 52 weeks will receive a "ticket to ride" in the inaugural World Snowboarding Championships event. And, with their wins today, both Roope Tonteri and Jamie Anderson have secured a spot to compete.

Besides enjoying some incredible live slopestyle action, the crowd was also impressed by the helicopter that was shuttling the competitors between runs. It’s pretty next level when riders take a heli to their competition runs instead of a snowmobile or a chairlift.

Tomorrow is the last day of the 12th annual BEO with the women’s halfpipe semi-finals and finals and the men’s finals. Top halfpipe riders and Olympians like Kelly Clark (USA), Kazu Kokubo (JPN) and Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) will definitely put on a good show in tomorrow’s halfpipe finals.

2011 BEO Women’s Slopestyle Final Results
1. Jamie Anderson (USA) BILLABONG 78.55 -$15,000
2. Sina Candrian (SUI) BURTON 77.10 - $7,500
3. Jordie Karlinski (USA) NIKITA 69.45 - $4,000

2011 BEO Men’s Slopestyle Final Results
1. Roope Tonteri (FIN) BURTON 86.30 - $15,000
2. Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) NIKE 6.0 86.05 - $7,500
3. Chas Guldemond (USA) ROCKSTAR 85.30 - $4,000