Leinonen and Battersby earn wins at Nippon Open

The biggest freeski competition in Asia was the setting for some of the best skiing so far this season. The snow conditions proved to be far better than at last year's comp and the riders looked forward to a great slopestyle course and a well-shaped halfpipe. The first day started off with the qualifiers for the men’s slopestyle. Several European riders qualified for the finals, including Kalle Leinonen. During the finals, Leinonen was throwing down some massive double spins, landing them all very clean. His solid runs put Leinonen in fourth place. Charles Gagnier, Mike Clark and Jossi Wells made the podium.
from newschoolers.com 

 The girls competition had some big names on the starting list, including Sarah Burke, Kim Lamarre and Ashley Battersby, just to name a few. Battersby, who has been stepping on the podium at most competitions she's attended this season, had some trouble with the biggest kicker and was struggling as to whether she should hit it or not after crashing on her first attempt. Not only did she find the courage to hit the jump, she threw down a huge switch 7, which turned out to be the jump to win the Nippon Open.

from newschoolers.com 
 The second part of the Open was reserved for the halfpipe event. Leinonen, who rides strong in slopestyle but even stronger in the pipe, wanted to show the Japanese that he’s able to do better than fourth place. With huge airs and spinning both right side and left side nines, Leinonen battled with US Open winner AJ Kemppainen for the top spot on the podium. Flying a bit higher and landing his jumps cleanly, Leinonen received the highest score of the day and won the comp in front of Kemppainen and Xavier Bertoni.    Next up for the freeskiers will be European Open, March 11-14.