After exciting semi finals and finals of the top eight, tonight was the time for the last decision: Which one of the international riders will  be able to take home this years Spring Battle victory? The established live video judging again attracted loads of spectators and freestyle fans to the Festsaal in Flachau, which were given a recap of the whole contest by legendary speaker Henry Jackson before the judges reviewed the runs of the finalists and announced their scores live on stage. Billy Morgan was the one who was able to leave the others behind and scored  himself with a Backside Triple Cork 1620° his first victory at Spring Battle in Absolut Park.

 

 

One day before the show the action went down on the mountain: 22 riders, of which ten came through qualifying earlier this week, were fighting in semi finals to get a spot in finals of the top eight. The riding level was insanely high: already in his first run Billy Morgan was able to land his Triple Cork 1440°. Local hero Clemens Schattschneider also threw down a triple, which saved him the top spot of semi finals. Roope Tonteri  from Finland came in second before three times Spring Battle winner Seppe Smits. In finals the excitement was clearly noticeable. All riders tried their best on the perfectly shaped twenty-­-two meter jump. 1260°s and Triple Corks showed the exceeding high level of this 5 Star World Snowboard Tour Big Air contest. Creative grabs and tweaks at the same time secured the right amount of style. Billy Morgan, who took part in Spring Battle for the first time, was able to top his run from semis and landed a Triple Cork 1620°, which convinced the judges as well as the spectators. He will not only take home his first contest victory but also a big spare of the 50.000 US-­-Dollar prize money as well as valuable World Snowboard Tour Ranking points which will count for next winters ranking. “We all had a great time here at Spring Battle and coming out on the top, finally winning my first contest, is definitely the icing on the cake.“ – Billy Morgan. Clemens Schattschneider, also landing  a Triple Cork, came in short behind the Brit with only one point difference. Absolut Park team rider Seppe Smits completes the podium.

 

Spring Battle again was a great success. International riders, established live video judging with freestyle rap from Mr. Dero & Klumzy Thung and great weather completed an awesome week full of breath taking freestyle snowboarding, partys and good times. Already now we are looking forward to Spring Battle 2015! You can find all further information here www.absolutpark.com.

 

Final ranking

1. Billy Morgan (GBR)

2. Clemens Schattschneider (AUT)

3. Seppe Smits (BEL)

4. Torgeir Bergrem (NOR)

5. Roope Tonteri (FIN)

6. Sebbe de Buck (BEL)

7. Antoine Truchon (CAN)

8. Lucien Koch (SUI)

 

Fellow Brit 16-year old Rowan Coultas also stole a double win in the Austrian Snowboard Slopestyle Championships in Westendorf. Rowan dominated in the U18 Rookies category taking the top spot on the podium, but his score was so high he went on to win the Men’s overall category as well. Rowan also competed in the TTR Spring Battle finals today in Flachauwinkl alongside team mate Billy Morgan, where some solid riding saw him make it through to the semi-finals. He unfortunately didn’t make it through to the final alpngside Billy but he showed great promise for future events.