The Ticket To Ride (TTR), in association with the World Snowboard Federation (WSF,) has announced the creation of the World Snowboard Championships. The new world class event will be run every four years with the first event expected during the 2011/12 winter season.
The event will focus on the main competition disciplines of half pipe and slopestyle and aims to provide an environment where the best freestyle riders in he world can strut their stuff. The concept was developed at the 2009 TTR General Assembly and at the 2010 meeting, members voted for Oslo to host in inaugural event in 2012. The project is a joint effort from the TTR and WSF and should attract the biggest names in the sport.
“The creation of the Snowboarding World Championships is a great step forward for the TTR and the world of snowboarding as a whole,” says Reto Lamm, President of the TTR World Tour. “We look forward to putting on a world-class event to push the progression of the sport and provide a global platform to showcase the best riders in the world.”
The highly influential snowboarder Terje Haakonsen has often voiced his disdain on how the snowboard events in the Olympics are run by a ski federation, the FIS, so it will be interesting to see if he champions this new event. The team behind the proposal include the Arctic Challenge, an event synonymous with Terje, and if he gets behind World Snowboard Championships you can imagine many other big name characters will follow suit.
The accepted proposal for the initial venue was put together by the Norwegian Snowboard Federation and the Arctic Challenge organisers. Oslo will be the host city with the resort of Tryvann offering the arena for the competition. The main stumbling block is for the planned expansion to Tryvann to be accepted by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment. The funding will include a backing of $4.3 million for the event itself and an additional $1.3 million for the preparations from the municipality of Oslo.
The plans are for the competition to be rolled out every four years, similar to the World Cup and Olympics with different cities throughout the world playing host each time. The details surrounding the event, such as qualifications, prize money and event schedules will be determined over the next six months and will be released as they are finalized.
Written by Stephen Adam