Lausanne was already known for being the Olympic capital. On the 4th of July 2015 it became the International capital of freebording, the 4th edition of the Lausanne Slopestyle is already recognized as the biggest freebord event in the world.
Freebord is an hybrid sport from San Fransisco born from the eternal dream of snowboarding on the street, it reproduces the sensation of riding snow on the asphalt by an ingenious ( but simple ) system of rotating center wheels. Since the pioneers imported the board in Europe, the sport has grown a powerful international scene. It’s this community which met for the 4th year at the Lausanne Slopestyle 2015.
This year the event is organized by the association LAU’ Riders. Strong of the experience of the original organiser Freebord suisse & Anticonf, the 4th edition was supported by Lausanne city & various sponsors, such as G-form Protects. Pierre Linckenheld, the first Swiss ambassador and member of the freebord pro team, welcomed crews from all over Europe with riders such as Mike Hope ( Michel Espoir ) coming from San Fransisco and Mr Style Jordi Puig Ribas coming from Spain, the best rider in the world.
Slopestyle is a type of snowboarding Freestyle competition, it became famous with the introduction of the sport at the 2014 Winter Olympic in Sochi. The course is made out of various size kickers, rails, boxes, rainbows, canon balls and more crazy features to rotate and send crazy tricks on. The event in Lausanne is the same concept with a more human size format, because asphalt is still a bit more painful than snow.
No quadruple cork during the Lausanne slopestyle this year, but we witnessed some 360°, grabs, couple of backflips and a good variety of weird crashes. We are far away from our snow brothers skills. But the importance isn’t the performance level in fact, it is the progression tool that this event brings to the sport: a one of a kind event dedicated to the evolution of freebording. Like Livigno designed a kicker to help Billy Morgan pushing the limit of snowboarding, Lausanne host the event which could make freebord history. It is for this reason that 200 riders came in Lausanne to improve their skills, destroy their limits and make the history of one sport.
If you come one day at the Lausanne Slopestyle, don’t look for the podium ceremony. There is no competition, just a couple of “Best Tricks Contest” where people can be rewarded by the amount of skin missing on their body. No gold medals. Instead you can see dozens of riders bombing naked, can drink a beer next to an estafette, can listen to people trying to share their passion in Spanish, French, German, English & Franglais, can admire the perseverance of some pushing & pushing on the same feature to land their first tricks, can enjoy a “Crêpe Bretonne” or a burger, can follow the progression of some girls taking their chance on the kicker, can watch a barista loaded with beer followed by a lot of thirsty riders or you can just see a bunch of normal people having fun.
It’s an event created by riders, for the riders. All made possible by the endless motivation of this community.
We look at the snowboarders from above, dreaming that one day riders will send serious tricks with style on big features, landing smoothly on their center wheels. This evolution is in motion, but our passion is already at the same level or even beyond. Winter sport has grown controlled by federation & contest making it a Olympic sport. Our sport got the same roots of passion, but became bigger only by the influence of the riders, their travels & adventure. All crossing land to be together and enjoy the road. A fraternal community inspired by snowboarding, born from the street and united by the power of the center wheel.
This article is the opinion of a rider, not directly affiliate to the organizers of the Lausanne Slopestyle 2015. If you want to discuss it, please write a comment bellow. If you hate it, you can just touch my center wheel.
Photo Credit : © Mirte Van Dijk | MVD Media
