Enni Rukajarvi © J PattersonThe second annual Burton Canadian Open (CANO) has come to a close and Brett Esser (USA) and Enni Rukajärvi (FIN) have come out on top, winning the men’s and women’s slopestyle competition today at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary, Alberta. After seeing optimal conditions during the week with bluebird skies, the weather took a turn for the worse with low visibility and frigid temps making for challenging riding during finals.

After finishing first in Friday’s slopestyle semis, Jordie Karlinski wasn’t able to pull out a winning run in finals, allowing European Open slopestyle champion, Enni Rukajärvi to ride away with first. Rukajärvi blew away the competition, scoring a whopping 96.17, nearly 20 points ahead second place finisher, Lisa Wiik (NOR) and third place Sina Candrian (SUI). Rukajärvi’s winning run featured a Cab-on to boardslide, followed by a gap to 50/50, into a frontside 360, a 50/50 on the downrail, followed by a 50/50 to indy along the wallride, nailing a smooth frontside 360 tailgrab, into a backside 540 indy, finishing with a big Cab 720 mute.

“This is my first time in Canada and it was cool to win here right after the BEO win,” said Enni. “The course took a little time to get used to as I am not as strong on the rails but I am very happy about this win and will be back next year.”

Canadians Jon Versteeg and Robby Balharry took home second and third respectively but it was Brett Esser, the second place finisher from semis, who stepped up his game to take home the win. Esser put down a run that started off with a Cab-on to back 180 off, followed by a switch 50/50, into a frontside boardslide through the kink, followed by a backflip, to a 180-on to switch backside 180 out, followed by a boardslide to fakie along the wallride. Esser then dropped into the jump line pulling a switch backside 900 mute, followed by a backside 720 tailgrab over the channel, finishing with a massive frontside 1080 tailgrab.


Brett Esser © J Patterson

“I’m feeling good, this is my first Open win since the US Open junior jam when I was 13, I will for sure be coming back to the Canadian Open,” said Esser of his win. “It was a super good course, the weather didn't help but the course held up great.”

Results Slopestyle Women

1 Enni Rukajärvi FIN ROXY
2 Lisa Wiik NOR ROXY
3 Sina Candrian SUI BURTON

Results Slopestyle Men

1 Brett Esser USA OMATIC
2 Jon Versteeg CAN NOMIS
3 Robby Balharry CAN WESTBEACH

For the UK, Aimee Fuller qualified in 11th place and Jack Shackleton qualified in 21st place.

Now that the Canadian Open is over, it’s on to the US Open, taking place from March 16 – 21, 2010 at Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont, where an overall male and female Burton Global Open Series Champion will be crowned. The top three men and women will take home equal prize money, with first place winning $50,000, second place $30,000 and third place taking home $20,000.

With her second place finish in today’s slopestyle competition, Lisa Wiik has now moved in to the World No. 1 spot on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour bumping Sarka Pancochova (CZE) to World No. 2. Sina Candrian now sits in World No. 3 closely followed by Enni Rukajärvi who has climbed the TTR world ranking list steadily over the last few months thanks to her unparalleled performance in all of the major women's slopestyle competitions on the TTR Tour. On the men's side, Marko Grilc (SLO) jumped back into third on the world ranking list right in front of Markus Malin (FIN).

If you didn’t make it to Canada Olympic Park to catch the action live, webcasts and highlights of the competitions will be available for on-demand viewing at Go211.com. The 2010 Canadian Open halfpipe and slopestyle action can be seen on The Score on February 28 at 4:00 p.m. EST.

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