Tignes X Games 2012, the European home of freestyle
Protagonisti degli X Games 2012
teaser Winter X games UCPA Tour 2012More than 150 of the best athletes of the Freeride World will meet in Tignes on March 14th to 16th for the 3rd edition of the Winter X Games Europe Tignes. Three days eight different disciplines freestyle bench held, including Super Pipe and Slope Style (ski and snowboard). The Tignes Winter X Games Europe is the only X Games event held outside the United States of America during Winter.
Half Pipe skiing plus Slope Style skiing and snowboarding make it to the big league and will be included into the programme for the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014! The Winter X Games have become the undisputed springboard for the world’s Freestyle riders. The public and the medias’ infatuation with this XXL event just keeps growing. In 2010, more than 400 journalists were officially accredited for the event and 74 500 fans showed up at the finishing area over the period of this three-day event.
FLASHBACK TO X GAMES HISTORY
he Winter X Games first appeared in 1997 in the USA, following the big success of the Summer X Games, which had already been held in California. The X Games quickly established themselves as the most important gathering for alternative sports and have been held every year since then, each event building on the success of its predecessor. Since 2002, the American Winter X Games have been held at Aspen in Colorado.
In 2010, the Winter X Games arrived for the first time in Europe in Tignes.
In 2011, the second iteration of the Winter X Games Europe in Tignes offered everything its fans could hope for and more:
150 athletes. 428 journalists from 16 different countries, officially accredited to report from the heart of the Winter X Games Europe 1900 hours of TV coverage across 198 countries
THE SUPERPIPE , THE X STAR
The Super Pipe takes centre stage at the Winter X Games. The simple image of this oversized lit-up Pipe is enough to make Freestyle fans dream. Its king-sized dimensions allow riders to get maximum speed and amplitude. Athletes are also judged on the execution and the difficulty of their tricks, on their landings and their overall use of the Super Pipe.
Frank Wells, the famous shaper from the American company SPT (Snow Park Technology), and the French shaper Benjamin Ravanel need 44 000m3 of snow to turn Tignes’ Half Pipe into this 220-metre long, 19-metre wide and 7-metre high XXL Superpipe.
SLOPESTYLE
The Slopestyle is a run punctuated with a wide variety of jumps including tables, hips, rails and huge jumps. The Winter X Games Europe’s Slopestyle is over 600 metres long with 190 metres of vertical drop.
It is judged on criteria that take into account the amplitude and execution of tricks, the difficulty of the lines, the landings and the use of the whole slope.
To create Tignes’ Slope Style, its shapers use the equivalent in snow of a road linking Paris to Rouen! It takes 115 000m3 of snow to build the Slope Style. This is the equivalent of 16 football pitches all covered with a metre of snow.
THE FREESTYLE DISCIPLINE MAKE IT TO THE BIG LEAGUE
Monday, 4th July 2011, whilst the whole of the Freestyle world was holding its breath, the ICO officially announced that the men’s and women’s Slope Style and Super Pipe categories would from now on be official events at the Winter Olympics.
Cut to a close-up of the French who have already staked their claim in the Ski Super Pipe category by winning numerous world titles, dominating the American and European Winter X Games in this discipline.
Stampa
