Girls junior podium pic by Marcel Lammerhirt

The 2008 Burton European Open continued in Laax, Switzerland, on Saturday with the junior halfpipe contest.

Fifteen-year-old Silje Norendal from Norway, who also placed second in Saturday’s junior slopestyle competition, put together the best run in the junior girls competition, despite challenging conditions. She started her run by throwing down a big method air to frontside air, followed by a solid backside air, into a front 3 indy, followed by a Cab 5 mute, to front 5, finishing with a stylish ally-oop handplant.

Boys junior podum pic by Marcel Lammerhirt

The young rippers made the best of the powder conditions, charging as hard as they could to
gain enough speed to rip through the snow-filled halfpipe. The snow was falling so heavily and fast that the pipe filled up almost as soon as it was cleared out.

In the boys junior competition, 16-year-old winner, Zak Stone had one of the best runs of the day, starting off with a huge backside air, followed by a front 7 stalefish, followed by a Haakon flip, front 5 melon, finishing off with a backside 9.

In the younger girls halfpipe competition, the winner was 13-year-old French rider Emma Claire Bernard, who also won Saturday’s slopestyle competition for her age group. Scott James from Australia took the top spot in the younger boys halfpipe competition, making this his second win at the BEO after taking first place in Saturday’s slopestyle competition.

“I’m pretty pumped because I didn’t expect to win again today,” said Scott. “It’s the first time I’ve competed at the BEO in Laax and I can’t wait to come back again next year.”

Top invited riders like Shaun White, Antti Autti, Danny Davis, Andy Finch, Nicolas Müller, Kevin Pearce, Cheryl Maas, Jamie Anderson, Torah Bright and Kelly Clark are all en route to Laax for the BEO 6-Star TTR slopestyle semi-finals on Tuesday and the halfpipe semi-finals on Wednesday.

Result Halfpipe Boys Juniors
1 Zak Stone CAN VOLCOM 86.7
2 Bryan Shuey USA OAKLEY 82.0
3 Ben Watts USA BURTON 78.8
4 Rafael Imhof SUI FTWO 72.0
5 Giorgio Ciancaleoni ITA BURTON 68.0

Result Halfpipe Girls Juniors
1 Silje Norendal NOR ROXY 69.7
2 Cilka Sadar SLO BURTON 61.3
3 Melanie Hofmeister GER BURTON 58.8
4 Alicia Bonnaud FRA RIDE 52.5
5 Mirabelle Thovex FRA ---- 50.7

Result Halfpipe Boys Youth
1 Scott James AUS QUIKSILVER 63.3
2 Jan Scherrer SUI FORUM 56.0
3 Niels Regnier FRA NITRO 47.7

Result Halfpipe Girls Youth
1 Emma Claire Bernard FRA ROXY 33.2
2 Chloé Trespeuch FRA ---- 19.0