November 12th, 2006 - 10'000 fans saw Matevz Petek (SLO) win the first big air in the NOKIA Snowboard FIS World Cup 2006/2007, held at the Olympic stadium in Stockholm (SWE) on Saturday at night. At the first World Cup event staged in the Swedish capital, Petek triumphed in the big final against Peetu Piiroinen (FIN). Aged 18, the Finnish freestyler was the youngest snowboarder in the finals of the best 16 qualifiers that applied, for the first time, the new rules for the knock-out-format. In the semi-finals, Piiroinen had relegated his team mate Risto Mattila to the small final, while Petek won against Florian Mausser of Austria. In the small final, Mattila successfully competed against Mausser taking the last place on the podium.

“This's a miracle”, cheered Matevz Petek right after the final run and his fourth World Cup triumph: “In the training, I wasn't able to land my tricks at all. But in the finals, I was doing better and better with every single jump.” Risto Mattila, who celebrated his eighth big air FIS World Cup podium complimented his young team mate who equalized his best World Cup performance so far: “Peetu is an outstanding young gun. He is riding super. One can expect a lot from him in the future. He will be big!”

FIS
12.11.2006