Staale Sandbach is the champion of the Swatch TTR 3star  Protest World Rookie Fest 2009  in Livigno, Italy, thanks to a sick run including huge bs7, fs7 and fs 1080. Norway resulted in the best team and, as it was in past editions, the general level of tricks and infrastructures in this event make it seems more a professional snowboard contest than an international junior meeting: the set up included 3 different lines 3 huge jumps about 20m long while 1080 rotations were the standard tricks of the top 10 riders in the finals.

The event started on sunday’s training in one of the biggest park of the Alps: the Swatch Snowpark Mottolino in Livigno. Since day 1 an high level of riding was showed with sick runs including rotations 7 and 9 from the  big names  of the event: Dimi de Jong, Staale Sandbach, Teddy Koo and many others. At 12.00 a.m. wind comes and stopped the trainings on the jumps but the rookies arranged immediatly a rail session on the first obstacle of the slope: a huge 25 stairs with straight and kinked rails.

On Monday 19th the judges, including the Pirate riders Joki Koeffler, saw one of the best qualification ever seen in a World Rookie Fest. Joki stated to be really stoked from the level of riding he saw in Livigno. The scandic riders were all extremely good conquering 12 of the 16 spot for the finals, but the ducthes Rocco Van Straaten and Dimi De Jong resulted the best in both Rookie and Grom categories. Rocco hitted the pro line with an amazing run including of bs9, cab9 and bs10, while Dimi killed the large line with a progression from 720 to 1080 resulting the best Grom. Alicia Bonnaud from France resulted the best among the qualifing girls.

Tuesday 20st the finals were postponed because of an heavy snow fall and the WRF crew enjoyed an unexpected day of powder which give even more positive feelings to this event. on Wednesday 22nd morning, even if someone didn’t think it was possible to re-shape a park under a meter of snow in only 1 night, on Wednesday 21nd morning the large line of the Swatch Snowpark Mottolino was ready to receive the best 16 male rookies, 8 male groms and 8 girls to start the challenge for tickets to Aesthetiker Wangle Tangle Gang Jam in Mayerofhen, the 4star Protest World Rookie Finals 2009 in Ischlg and Protest Surf Camp in Lacanau, France, including 300  travel budget to reach the famous surf spot.

Obviously the Furius Black Yeti ride with the finalist pushing their level higher than ever to  Conquer the Snowboard Age : if not for the name of the event, the crows could be sure to see a professional snowboard competition. Instead of best trick (there were to many 1080) the judges nominate a  best combo  from the norwegian Aleksander Oestreng who stomped a  Double Front Flip  to  Double Corkscrew 1080  obtaining the 3rd rookie place. Kevin Backstrom from Sweden killed the jump line conquering the second place among the rookie category, while the well known norwegian rising star Staale Sandback resulted the best in the finals with a sick progression from 540 to 1080 on the large kicker line. Among the groms, first place for Dimi De Jong stomped rotations 720 and 900 as they were basic tricks, followed by the italian new comer Marco Grigis and the rasta-swedish Benjamin Koening. For the girls category Michaela Davis-Meehan from Australia who get the first place thanks to rotations 540.

For more informations check worldsnowboardfederation.org

The Protest World Rookie Fest is organized by the World Snowboard Federation in collaboration with Board Riders, and is made possible by Protest Boardwear, Ride Snowboards, Adidas Eyewear and Snowpark.it, with the support of Pirate Movie Productions, the Aesthetiker Waengle Taengle, the Swatch Snowpark Mottolino, Livigno Tourist Office and spiced up by RedBull. You can follow the Protest World Rookie Fest on freecaster.tv , Onboard European Snowboard Magazine, Tacky, Board.TV, Entry, Snowboard Mag and What’s Up.

Protest World Rookie Fest Final Results:
Girls Grom
1 Maiocco Maria Delfina Ita Nitro-Roxy-Fatality 1996

Girls Rookie
1 Davis-Meehan Michaela Aus Billabong-K2-Smith 1992
2 Bonnaud Alicia Fra Apo-Oxbow-Dragon-Vans-Protec 1993
3 Jones Maria Nor Nike Acg 1992

Boys Grom
1 De Jong Dimi Ned Nitro-Oneill-Redull-Adidas 1994
2 Grigis Marco Ita Nitro-Adio 1994
3 Lestage-König Benjamin Swe Forum-Oxbow-Skullcandy 1996

Boys Rookie
1 Sandbech Staale Nor Oakley-32-Etnies 1993
2 Bäckström Kevin Swe Burton-Anon-Red-Adio-Skullcandy 1992
3 Oestreng Mihailovic Aleksander Nor Dc-Electric-Swag 1991

Best National Team: Norway

International Rookie Fest heats:
Protest World Rookie Fest – Livigno, Italy – 3Star   17.21 january 09
North Face Korean Rookie Fest – Phoenix Park, Korea – 2Star   4-6 february 09
Protest Balkan Rookie Fest – Kopaonik, Serbia – 2Star   20.22 february 09
Protest East Rookie Fest – Splinderuv Mlyn, Czech Republic – 2Star   6.8 march 09
Protest World Rookie Finals – Ischgl, Austria – 4Star   15.19 april 09