Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the traditional Bavarian village, was the setting of the first European 4Star RIDE Shakedown. Crowds of over 5000 people came to support the top-level snowboarders for a competition on the impressive slopestyle set-up at the Olympic Ski Jump Stadium on the 11th and 12th of March, 2011. English young-gun, Jamie Nicholls, grabbed his first 4Star victory and went home with a large share of the 35.000 € prize purse, as well as, 500 Swatch TTR World Ranking points, which moved him into the World No. 25 position. In second place was Canadian, Matts Kulisek, and rounding out the podium was Luka Jeromel, from Slovenia, in third.

The competitors saw fantastic warm, blue bird conditions and the perfectly shaped course was well liked by the riders. The course started off with an 18-meter straight jump followed with the choice of a down stair-set rail or a flat rail. The semi-finals went down as a two-hour long jam session, where only the best 12 riders made their way to the finals. In the best two out of three run final format, the riders had to call their tricks each time before dropping into the course and had to stick to their trick choice for a score.

17-year old Jamie Nicholls from Halifax, England stomped an impressive first run with a cab 1080 on the kicker and a cab 180 to 50/50 to 270 out on the flat rail. His second run rivaled his first run with a backside 1080 double cork and a stylish 50/50 to 270 out. Buzzing of his win in the rail jam the night before and a podium placement at the 4Star Burn River Jump slopestyle contest, only a mere week earlier, he put on a great show at the 4Star TTR RIDE Shakedown. With this result he moves up into the Swatch TTR World No. 25 position. Jamie was stoked after the event saying, "I really liked the format. It shows your consistency and you need to land the tricks you call. Everyone was riding very well and it is a really good set-up. It is my first time in Garmisch and I'm pretty happy to be on the podium today and last night. I'm stoked!" With his second place finish, Matts Kulisek (CAN) improved on his ranking and now sits in the TTR Top 50, as did Sweden’s Niklas Mattson who finished in tenth place.

Only One Week Left till the 4Star RIDE Shakedown at Snowqualmie, WA
The Shakedown series continues its mission to provide top level snowboard competition at The Summit at Snoqualmie, in Snoqualmie Pass, Washington, USA. The 4Star action is set to run on the 18th and 19th March, 2011 on a similar massive slopestyle set-up. This event will be a great opportunity for the North American riders to collect some valuable end of season ranking points

For more information visit www.ttrworldtour.com