Air & style

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Air & style
logo
founding 1994
Seat Innsbruck , Austria
purpose Winter sports , snowboard
Chair Andrew Hourmont , coordinator
Website www.airandstyle.com

Air & Style is one of the biggest freestyle - snowboard festivals in Europe. It has been held annually since 1994 and is considered the first competition to focus on the so-called Straight Jump (Big Air). The inventor and organizer of the event is Andrew Hourmont with the company Air & Style Company (legally: Agency for Sport-Music-Lifestyle GmbH) in Innsbruck , Austria , which has been majority-owned by two-time Air & Style winner Shaun White since 2014 .

Snowboard contest

history

Emergence

In 1993 Andrew Hourmont was still working as a snowboard photographer and, as part of a film project, animated several professional riders to take part in a small contest at Innsbruck's Bergisel Stadium. With little sponsorship money and hope for a few snowboard fans (500 expected) the 1st Air & Style Contest took place on January 17th, 1994 and exceeded all expectations of the organizers with approx. 5000 paying visitors. In the history of freestyle snowboarding, the Air & Style Contest is the first of its kind to focus on the straight jump . The contest was endowed with 10,000 US dollars and was won by Reto Lamm with a front flip as a victory jump.

development

In the same year (1994) Andrew Hourmont organized the 2nd Air & Style Contest on December 19, 1994 after a massive increase in the budget . This was already recorded by MTV and followed and sponsored by Snowboarder Magazine . The prize money had doubled to US $ 20,000, as had the number of visitors (10,000). Ingemar Backman won this competition and that year the first aftershow party took place in Innsbruck .

In 1995 the Air & Style Contest began to boom. Not only the skills and technical development of the riders grew rapidly since the first competition, the prize money of 50,000 US dollars and two popular bands of the time ( H-Blockx , Clawfinger ) made the contest a standard in snowboarding culture become. The Norwegian Terje Håkonsen was able to secure the win with a Stiff 360 °, although he pointedly criticized the jury.

In 1996, a new ski jumping hill construction raised the demands on the drivers to a higher level. The jump was expanded with a quarter pipe at the end and the festival also saw a prominent lineup of musical support ( Bush , Ugly Kid Joe , Massive Attack ), a new high in prize money (75,000 US dollars plus a KTM motocross machine) and a record number of over 25,000 visitors.

The Air & Style Contest was broadcast live for the first time by MTV and other broadcasters in 1997 , was able to engage bands such as Faith No More and Bad Religion and grew massively in its dimensions. With a prize money of 100,000 US dollars (and a Harley-Davidson ), a new record was also set in the snowboard sector internationally. This year too, the number of visitors far exceeded the 25,000 mark.

The sponsors allowed a further expansion of the event in 1998, which in the meantime had grown into an established standard in the snowboard freestyle professional scene and was seen as a stepping stone to great careers. Among other things, the prize money of 150,000 US dollars (and an Audi A3 Quattro) made the contest a celebrated scene event and attracted even more visitors than the event last year.

1999 disaster

For the December 4, 1999 event, the Air & Style website reported 45,000 visitors and more. The actual number of visitors was around 22,000. Due to the inadequate safety precautions of the organizers and the completely overloaded logistics and infrastructure of the Bergisel arena, after the end of the event there was a rush of people that the exits and barriers could not withstand. As a result, there was a dense crowd, in which the pressure from the people was so strong that five people were killed as a result of bruises and another five young people were taken care of, one of whom died four years later as a result of the accident.
In the subsequent proceedings it was argued that

“…. Both the event office and the municipality of Innsbruck had known at least since 1995 that the Bergisel Stadium as a facility for large events is a very problematic and sometimes unsuitable facility ”.

Almost three years after the accident, the judge stated in his judgment that the state of Tyrol and the city of Innsbruck should have canceled the event. Because of this neglect of duty, they were sentenced to pay for the damage caused.

From a sporting point of view, the 7th Air & Style Contest was won for the first time by an Austrian ( Stefan Gimpl ), who received a large part of the prize money of 200,000 US dollars (+ an Audi A3 Quattro). In addition, female snowboarders took part in this contest for the first time.

The city of Innsbruck , which had always barely supported the Air & Style Contest , did not allow any further events, and the Bergisel was then refurbished in terms of safety. As a result, the contest had to find a new venue and signed a 5-year contract in the nearby town of Seefeld in Tyrol .

Relocation to Seefeld

On December 9th, 2000 the 8th Air & Style Contest took place in the Casino Arena Seefeld . With 250,000 US dollars (and an Audi A3 Quattro) it was the most highly endowed sporting event in Air & Style history to date and was surprisingly won again by Stefan Gimpl. The constantly growing mainstream character of the event will from now on be controlled in many respects by the corresponding authorities and will try to appeal to an ever wider audience.

In 2001, after Gimpl's third victory in a row (with basically the same jump, the Cab 1080), the following year 2002 the concept of the ramps, which can be accessed after the straight jump and can bring additional points, changed. Fun park elements ( rails , ramps, quarter pipes ) were a creative extension for the participants. The then 16-year-old Shaun White attracted attention for the first time at the 10th Air & Style Contest and took second place behind David Benedek .

In 2003 and 2004, the snowboard prodigy Shaun White won, who showed extraordinary demonstrations of his skills. Likewise were motocross -Shows integrated and further developed, as has been impressively demonstrated at the sold out final event in 2004, when the first ever jumped on snow backflip was standing on the bike.

Move to Munich

Seefeld did not extend the contract and so the Air & Style Contest had to move again. The event found a new partner in the Olympic Stadium in Munich and signed a five-year contract. The first Air & Style Games took place there on December 3, 2005, and the framework concept of the competition was expanded to include freestyle motocross . Various motorcycle presentations have already taken place at previous Air & Style events, but it has now been run as a competition.

In 2006 the competition was expanded to include the Snowboard Rookie Challenge . 10 newcomers from different nations compete against each other in a half-hour competition. The winner receives a start permit among the best 16 participants at the next event. Freestyle Motocross was replaced by Freestyle Snowmobile Cross as a new discipline at the 15th Nokia Air & Style Contest in 2007 . Drivers from different nations jumped over a hill with a snowmobile and performed various artistic maneuvers in the air, which were then judged by a jury. With 28,000 paying visitors, the event was the most successful Air & Style in Munich to date.

Split / return to Innsbruck

The Innsbruck city ​​council announced on February 15, 2007 that it would now very much welcome a return of the event to the Bergisel for several reasons. The first negotiations began at the beginning of March 2007 and on February 2, 2008 the first quarterpipe competition took place in Innsbruck . In order to increase the stimulus factor, the largest quarter pipe to date was built, which served as the basis for each competition. Above all, it was intended to break the height record of 9.8 m that Terje Håkonsen holds. This could not be achieved, but the competition was won by Kevin Pearce , who also won the Big Air competition in Munich and is the first driver to win two Air & Style competitions in one season. As a precaution against another disaster, 12,000 spectators were admitted to the first new event in Innsbruck, the stadium was completely sold out. On December 5th, 2009, exactly 10 years after the accident of 1999, another straight jump competition was held, which will probably have to give way for future events of the quarterpipe competition.

extension

In 2010 the Air & Style Company confirmed a straight jump competition in Beijing, which will be held on December 4th and will be presented by Shaun White , among others . Another date was set for Munich on February 12, 2011. Since there will also be an event in Innsbruck, this is the first season with three events, each of which is classified as a 6-star TTR event, making Air & Style one of the most influential snowboard competition series worldwide. After the competition was hosted in Beijing on December 8th, 2012, the competition will take place again on February 1st and 2nd, 2013 at the Bergisel in Innsbruck. There will be a jam session as well as a burn style session.

Political

Until the dissolution in 2002, the points gained by the rider flowed into the ISF rating . Since the establishment of the TTR World Snowboard Tour shortly thereafter, the points have been credited to the official snowboard world rankings. The Air & Style Big Air is a so-called 6-star TTR event and thus one of the most important on the World Tour with 1000 world ranking points for the winner.

Furthermore, Andrew Hourmont has announced that the event will be turned into a series that will include cities such as Paris and London . Munich remains in place for the time being, a contract which stipulates four more events has been signed for this purpose, which is why the straight jump event will remain in Munich for the time being. On February 2nd, 2008 the first quarterpipe competition started in Innsbruck , which was classified as a 5-star TTR competition in the first year of its existence. At the second Air & Style Quarterpipe competition on January 31, 2009, the event is already being run as a 6-star TTR competition. The event was completely sold out almost two weeks before the start.

Due to the short-term withdrawal of the main sponsor in summer 2008, the straight jump event in Munich could no longer be financed in the same year and therefore had to be canceled. In spring 2009, the Air & Style Company announced that the event would become a series as announced and that it would be held in Innsbruck, Munich and Moscow . Instead of Moscow, however, Beijing was confirmed in the summer of 2010 and held in the same year.

On January 13, 2014 it was announced that the snowboard professional and two-time Olympic champion Shaun White is the new majority owner of the Air & Style Company. Founder Andrew Hourmont remains Managing Director for Europe. White won the contest in 2003 and 2004.

Winner - Chronology

Skateboard contest

history

Skateboarding competitions were also held between 1999 and 2001 , with the likes of Tony Hawk , Andy MacDonald , Sandro Dias and Sergie Ventura in attendance.

The original plan was to establish the Air & Style Skate Contest at a similar size in the skateboard sector as its big brother in the snowboard sector. Due to various factors, this project had to be put on hold for the time being.

Chronology / winner

Publications / releases

Over the years several official were videos and 9 music compilations released to the event, which are primarily the occurring bands and other well-known artists in the snowboard - Genre turned.

CDs

Videos / DVDs

  • 2004 - Air & Style History 1993-2004

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Recourse claim rejected ( Memento from April 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
  2. ↑ 5 dead after mass panic. Retrieved December 29, 2012 .
  3. ^ Billabong Air & Style Contest 2013 in Innsbruck in the Bergisel Stadium ( Memento from September 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ 2013 Air & Style Innsbruck ( Memento from May 4, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ Munich, Innsbruck, London, Paris: Air and Style becomes a series , funsporting.de
  6. ↑ Air & Style 2008, Back To The Roots ( Memento from May 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Munich - Innsbruck - Moscow: Air & Style grows into series ), Tiroler Tageszeitung Online@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / tt.com
  8. ↑ New owner at "Air & Style". In: tirol.ORF.at . January 13, 2014.