Meynet wins the Verbier Xtreme

Verbier, Switzerland, March 25 2007 – The 12th edition of the legendary O’Neill Xtreme by Powerade unfolded on the magnificent north-facing Bec des Rosses peak on Sunday morning, high up above the Swiss resort of Verbier.

With weather forecasters warning of the imminent arrival of cloudy weather, all competitors were on their way up the mountain by 6:10am before starting their 90 minute hike to the summit of the Bec. At 10am, the sky was still clear and everything was in place for the start of an incredible freeride extravaganza, one that was enjoyed by thousands of spectators gathered around the Col des Gentianes.

Kicking off proceedings for the men, Scott rider Estanislao Vasiuk set the tempo for the rest of the morning, gliding down the intimidating face with exemplary fluidity and style. In true showman form, the flamboyant Argentine freeskier launched an impressive frontflip off the lower cliff band and pointed his skis to the finish line with the cheers of the crowd still ringing in his ears. One of the other big cheers of the day was earned by freeskiing legend Seb Michaud, who fearlessly launched his trademark backflip off the same 80ft cliff he picked out last year. This time, however, the Frenchman was unable to land cleanly and lost a ski in the process, pushing him down into 13th place.

By the time the men’s runs had finished, it was clear that the panel of judges would have an incredibly tough job determining which skiers should be rewarded with podium places. In the end, Switzerland’s Nicolas Pasquier made his home field advantage pay handsomely and impressed the judges sufficiently to earn himself 3rd place, while Sweden’s Kaj Zackrisson narrowly missed out on a second successive Xtreme title after picking an original line and stomping two cliff jumps at lightning speed to close his run with a bang.

As the last men’s skier to start, France’s Olivier Meynet knew that he would need to pull something extra-special out of the bag to improve on his 3rd place in 2006, and that’s exactly what he did. The 25-year-old barely hesitated as he threaded his way through and over the exposed rocks peppering the mountain face before stomping his run-closing cliff drop. Crowned champion for the first time and also winning a brand new Nissan Navara pick-up truck for his 1st place in Sunday evening’s rider-judged standings, Olivier said: “This victory is like a dream come true for me – I can’t quite believe I won 1st place and the truck, it’s absolutely crazy. I’m a bit lost for words!”

The snowboarders, meanwhile, were equally impressive as they descended the 500 vertical meter mountain face. Returning to Verbier to defend the title he won last year, Switzerland’s Cyril Neri upped the ante with no fewer than two backflips. Were it not for a sketched landing on his second flip, the 33-year-old would have undoubtedly climbed higher on the podium. Finishing just ahead of Neri, French freeride veteran Serge Cornillat let his vast backcountry experience rise to the surface during his run, and the judges’ decision to award him 2nd place was met with huge cheers from the crowd.

The snowboarding title, however, belonged to France’s Xavier de le Rue. The X-Games BoarderX gold medalist has been killing it wherever he's ridden this year, as demonstrated earlier this month with his 1st place at the Swatch O’Neill Big Mountain Pro.

Scott wishes to congratulate all its team riders who took part at the Xtreme:
Skiers: Olivier Meynet, Seb Michaud, Estanislao Vasiuk, Bruno Compagnet and Laura Bohleber
Snowboarders: Xavier Jordan, Serge Cornillat, Cyril Neri and Matthew Annetts