Every year in Annecy, France, takes place a ski movie festival called the High Five Festival. This festival is known for showing the premiere of worldwide riders productions. For this new edition, the Like That Events team brought to the schedule a urban Big Air.
Sosh Big Air: the contest
On friday, 30 riders battled to get three tickets to the semi-finals. Guys had two runs to prove they could make it to compete with the cream of the freeskiing world today. Finally, Christoph Schenk (92.0), Jackson Wells (89.0) and Alex Hall (88.0) reached the semis.
They were 20 semi finalists: the 3 qualified skiers and 17 worldwide guests: Kevin Rolland, Henrik Harlaut, Fabian Bösch, Joffrey Pollet-Villard, David Wise, Øystein Bråten, Vincent Gagnier, Jossi Wells, Tom Wallisch, Torin Yater-Wallace, McRae Williams, Luca Schüler, Jesper Tjäder, Kai Mahler, Alex Beaulieu-Marchand, Quentin Ladame and James Woods.
The skiers got a list of 10 imposed tricks divided in two categories: the "Basics" and the "Evolution". The "Basic" tricks are mythical figures invented by freeskiing icons as the "Evolution" are more contemporary ones, including many rotations in all directions.
Only 10 of these 20 riders could reach the big final where they got a list of 10 new tricks and had to draw 4 figures (2 "Basics" and 2 "Evolution")
The final
The atmosphere in Annecy was festive. The riders shew an awesome proximity with the public. After his third reception, Fabian Bösch took some time to take a selfie with the few people he sprayed snow on three times in a row. The local Frenchman, Quentin Ladame, made the crowd go crazy. The cheers were audible from the top of the 42 meters long diving board. At the end of every reception, Ladame got closer to the public to dance and party with them.
Some riders chose to make the tricks of their choice for the show, such as Jesper Tjäder perfectly tackling a double backflip and Luca Schüler doing a double frontflip in their fourth run.
Henrik Harlaut had a perfect time in Annecy. The Swedish freeskier managed to get two scores of 10 (out of 10) in four tries. To end his competiton, he performed a double cork 1260, making the crowd scream loud.
This new competition format was not only interesting for the crowd, but also the TV spectators since the riders had to choose at least two "Basic" tricks. These figures, invented by legends as Candide Thovex or Jean-Pierre Auclair, were created in the early 2000s. The different jumps executed by the riders were an overview of the evolution of the tricks in the last fifteen years.
Final results
Henrik Harlaut wins the Sosh Big Air ahead of Fabian Bösch and Alex Hall.