FREESKI. The King of Style big air returned to Stockholm, Sweden this weekend drawing tens of thousands of fans to the Stockholm Olympic Stadium. Seven skiers advanced through Friday's qualification round to join five prequalified athletes in the finals. The stage was thus set for 12 skiers to throw down before a rowdy crowd for a piece of the $20,000 prize purse.

Jon Olsson (SWE) at King of Style 2011, Photo: jon-olsson.com

King of Style 2011, Photo: jon-olsson.com

And throw down they did. The athletes had three jumps each to impress the judges. Of the three jumps, two tricks had to be different and the two best jumps counted towards the final score.

After an onslaught of double corks and wild action it was Switzerland's Elias Ambühl who emerged victorious. 'Twas Elias' double cork 12 reverse tail grab that arguably secured the crown for him. I personally had never seen that grab in a double cork before, and I was quite impressed while watching the live stream in the comfort of my bedroom this morning.

The King of Style 2011 - Elias Ambühl (SUI)

This marks Elias' third victory in a total of four city big-airs this season. Elias topped the podium at the Budapest Fridge big air last week, and at Freestyle.ch in September.

Joining Elias on the podium today was Bobby Brown, who - speaking of reverse tail grabs - stomped an impressive double cork 10 reverse tail of his own. Landing in third place was James Woods of the UK.

Photo: jon-olsson.com

It was the last city Big Air of this season but at the same time the best one with a perfect shape and the right weather. Congratulations go out to all the finalists for a great show.

The next main contest - first stop of the Dew Tour from the 15th to the 18th of December - will be on real snow.

Author: Henrik Lampert
Freeskier.com
November 19, 2011 | 10:58 pm

RESULTS

1: Elias Ambühl: dub cork 12 reverse tail huge ( first ever) / sw dub cork 10 mute to jap
2: Bobby Brown: dub 10 reverse tail / sw dub 12 mute
3: James «Woodsy» Woods: sw dub 10 truck perfect / dub cork 12 mute
4: Tom Granier: sw dub 9 kang / switch bio 10 mute shifty
5: Jacob Wester: swi cork 9 blunt / switch cork 10 blunt
6: Jesper Tjader : dub cork 12 mute / dub 14 mute
7: Jon Olsson : sw dub 9 safety to japan / switch dub 12 safety
8: Jossi Wells
9: Gus Kenworthy
10: Kai Mahler
11: PK Hunder
12 Oscar Sherlin