Janne Korpi again on top in Stockholm

After Peetu Piiroinen was able to claim victory in London, another Finn took home the Gold medal in the second Big Air of the 2009 Snowboard FIS World Cup.

It was Janne Korpi, who was unbeatable – despite the fact that he had just sneaked into the final of the best twelve riders. There, the 22-year-old winner of the last Halfpipe World Cup in Saas-Fee got back to business with 53.4 points. In the 1912 Olympic Stadion in Stockholm, the 2005 Junior World Champion (HP) thus celebrated his fifth World Cup triumph by relegating Chris Soerman (SWE, 52.1) and Seppe Smits (BEL, 51.2) to the second and third rank respectively. Therefore, Korpi pulled off a rare feat repeating his last year’s triumph.

His victory was even more impressive as the Finn who was born in Vihti had missed yesterday’s training: “While doing some rails, I broke my bindings and wasn’t able to practice at all. I was pretty disappointed about this.” However, this little boner didn’t affect his riding today at all as he threw in some an incredible “Frontside 1080” and another stylish “Cab 900” beating the whole international competition including his strong team mates Antti Autti, Risto Mattila and Peetu Piiroinen whom the most of the 20,000 spectators, who had watched the show today, had rather thought of being capable to win.

Correspondingly, Korpi was all smiles after the price giving ceremony: “I’m so stoked! I always try to give it my best shot and always try to achieve my goal of winning but it’s not that easy if the line-up is as strong as today.” In the end, 1.3 points were enough to edge of one Swedish contender to the runner-up spot.

But Chris Soerman, who had secured the first ever Swedish podium spot in the third edition of the Winter Jam in Stockholm with one “Backside 900” and one “Frontside 1080”, wasn’t disappointed at all about closely missing the glory: “I’m so happy. I’m happy about my result, about the fact that we have such an event here in Stockholm at such a historic venue and so many people watching it. I felt comfortable the whole day and simply did my thing. However, I was only nervous before my second qualifying run as I had not landed the first on.”