Winner of The Oakley Arctic Challenge Peetu Piiroinen secure Swatch TTR World Champion title

Oslo, Norway – March 7th 2010: One of the most impressive athletes in the today’s snowboard sport, Peetu Piiroinen (FIN), reconfirmed his reputation today. Thousands of cheering fans fuelled the world’s best snowboarders in a spectacular final at the 6Star The Oakley Arctic Challenge, one of the premiere snowboarding events on the Swatch TTR Tour. The crowds at Tryvann Vinterpark in Oslo, Norway witnessed a piece of snowboarding history as 21-year old Peetu Piiroinen took first place in today’s slopestyle competition, and with an additional 1000 TTR ranking points on his account, he took an unassailable lead in the World Ranking List. In two weeks time he will be crowned Swatch TTR World Snowboard Champion at the final 6Star event on the tour, the Burton US Open. The Arctic Challenge podium was rounded up by Norwegian favourites Torstein Horgmo in second place and Mikkel Bang in third.

Peetu Piiroinen Securing his Second TTR World Champion Title

The young Fin has earned himself $35 000 USD today with his win. This season he has shown us his nerves of steel, consistent technique and a seemingly untiring ability to tackle the various formats on the Swatch TTR Tour by taking podium placements at every 6Star event on the Tour. He took 2^nd place at the 6Star Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck, Austria, 3rd places at both the slopestyle and halfpipe at the 6Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos and victories in both formats at the 6Star Burton European Open in Laax, Switzerland. The deserving Piiroinen has shown his exceptional talent and caught the eye of the fans and media worldwide by successfully balancing his commitment on the TTR tour while exceeding at events outside the Tour. He comments on his season; “It has been the best season ever. Silver medal at the Olympics and now the TTR title. I have got so many podium places and I have had no injuries, it could not have been better.”

The exiting final saw Piiroinen stomp a clean last run awarded with an incredible 99% flow score. His smooth run consisted of a switch cab 270 to fakie on the top rail, frontside 540 melon on the canon rail, backside 1080 late cork, backside rodeo 720 and a gigantic frontside crail on the hip. Piiroinen remains modest as always about his win, “I really didn’t expect to win here at The Oakley Arctic Challenge, but I knew that I had a good chance to secure the title here. It feels so good to take both. And it is the second title in a row. Now I can take it easy and maybe drink a beer.”

The founder of the TTR tour and owner of The Oakley Arctic Challenge, Terje Haakonsen (NOR) praised Piiroinen’s ability to ride all formats on the TTR Tour, “That is why he is a good snowboarder. He is not specialized, but can ride all of them, also when it comes to quarterpipe he can ride really big. He had a lot of second and third places but he is always the guy that can win. He is just a really solid and inventive rider.”
Valuable TTR ranking points handed out at The Oakley Arctic Challenge

The race for the Top 5 spots in the Swatch TTR ranking is heating up in the wait of the champion crowning event, the 6Star Burton US Open starting in one weeks time. Eric Willett (USA) moved into the TTR World No.5 spot with a 9^th place today and up and coming rookie Roope Tonteri (FIN) moved into TTR World No.7 with a 7^th place. With a 4^th place Seppe Smits (NED) made the move into the TTR World Top 10. With two more 6Star results on the menu at the Burton US Open the Top 5 is a desired place as all riders want a piece of the Swatch TTR end of season prize purse of $200,000 USD, as well as guaranteed invites to next season’s 6Star events.

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