Air + Style: Los Angeles arrived in the U.S. for the first time at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl grounds this weekend with world-class snowboarding and skiing competition and more than 40,000 spectators in a attendance over the two days. Prior to the event in California, Beijing and Innsbruck hosted the event for the 22nd year in the event’s history with the Los Angeles event concluding the three-stop tour.
Staged by Shaun White Enterprises and hosted by White, Air + Style originated 21 years ago in Innsbruck and a second event in the series was added in Beijing five years ago. In addition to White bringing music and 16 elite snowboarders to the U.S. stop to the historic Rose Bowl, skiing was added to the line up for the first time where 16 of the world’s best skiers competed on the Big Air jump.
Tour Champion Stale Sandbech
“This event has been a dream of mine, so seeing it come to fruition with all of the people who came out, all of the athletes and the artists – it’s amazing,” said White. “It exceeded my expectations for sure.”
Snowboard – Saturday, February 21
Snowboard finals kicked off the two-day event on Saturday with Japan’s Yuki Kadono securing his second win at an Air + Style event by a lead of 25 points with a switch backside triple cork 1620 melon – a trick that has never been done in competition. Second place went to Canada’s Sebastian Toutant who clinched the silver with a frontside double cork 1080 mute. In addition to winning bronze, Norwegian’s Ståle Sandbech was crowned the first Air + Style world tour title.
Ski – Sunday, February 22
On Sunday, skiers took to the ramp for the first time in Air + Style history. Despite rain showers throughout the day, competition was completed and USA’s Gus Kenworthy took gold with Canada’s Alex Bellemare and Vincent Gagnier rounding off the podium, respectively.
In addition to the competition, Air+Style: LA brought an incredible music lineup with 18 bands performing over two stages: Saturday brought Kendrick Lamar, Diplo, Phantogram, Portugal. The Man, The Black Lips, Metz, Bad Things, In The Valley Below and Teenage Wrist. Sunday, February 22 brought Steve Aoki, The Flaming Lips, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Sleigh Bells, Cults, Surfer Blood, Deap Vally, The Black And The White and Tennis System.
For more information on Air + Style, visit www.air-style.com.