The 2nd Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY tour stop hosted by Blue Tomato took place in the Zillertal Arena on 20 and 21 January 2024 in glorious sunshine. Young snowboard talents from all over Europe took the opportunity to present their best freestyle tricks on the snowpark setup of Actionpark Kreuzwiese. The best performance in each category was rewarded with valuable points, medals and prize money. The highly endowed Ästhetiker Style Award, Horsefeathers Best Trick Award and other awards by the Ästhetiker Snowboard Club were also up for grabs.

The conditions couldn’t have been better! With wintry temperatures and a perfectly shaped snowpark, the 2nd Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY tour stop last weekend in the Zillertal Arena made for many happy faces. Young snowboard talents took advantage of Saturday´s practice day to improve their tricks at the free freestyle coaching sessions and to celebrate the new format of the Ästhetiker Style Session with lots of airtime, few turns and plenty of style. On Sunday, the open slpestyle competition really got down to business. Plenty of medals, prize money, prizes and of course valuable overall points awaited the winners of the 8 categories.

In the end, it was Dmytro Luchkin (UKR) who scooped triple honours with overall victory in the classification of all male participants, victory in his category Grom Boys (13-15 years) and the Style Award. Petr Ershov (RUS) came second in the overall standings. With his clean “BS Double 1080” he also earned the Horsefeathers Best Trick Award. Kristina Holzfeind (AUT) took the overall victory of all female riders in the ladies’ category after claiming first place in the Rookie Girls class (16-18 years).

However, young Adèle Vankerschaver (POR) was hot on Kristina’s heels. In addition to her victory in the Super Grom Girls class (U12 years), Adèle was delighted to win the silver medal in the Open Women’s Class and even happier to receive her well-deserved Ästhetiker Style Award.

Livia Schatzer from Team Austria won the Grom Girls competition (13-15 years), Roahan Duncan (GBR) was the cool Rookie Boys winner (16-18 years). Ricco Nawarkiewicz-Wisniewski from Poland, took first place in the Super Grom Boys (U 12 years) ahead of his brother Gustav and was honoured as the “most impressive Grom of the dÄy” for his solid performance. The complete results and tour stop rankings can be found at https://valleyralley.at/results. 

The Zillertal Arena shapers are delighted with the successful event: “The Zillertal Välley Rälley has once again brought the young stars of the snowboard scene to the Actionpark Kreuzwiese this year. Thanks to the Ästhetiker team and the participating kids – we’re already looking forward to next year!”

The Actionpark Kreuzwiese in Zell will remain open until mid-April and will be shaped daily. Every Tuesday, the Zillertal Arena offers free freestyle coaching sessions with the Ästhetiker Shredschool. The meeting point for the coaching sessions is always Tuesdays at 11.00 am at the tipis in the Actionpark Kreuzwiese.

With the second of four contest results, the cards have been reshuffled in the Zillertal Arena. The new overall tour ranking can now be viewed at https://valleyralley.at The overall tour winners will be crowned new Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY royal family after the fourth and final tour stop at the end of April on Hintertux Glacier.

Points for the international World Snowboard Point List (WSPL) were awarded for participation. The tour stop counted as an ASA (Austrian Snowboard Association) Austria Cup and rookies (U18) receive credits on their World Rookie Ranking points account. Wildcards for the World Rookie Final will be awarded for the best rookie score (m/f) after the 3rd tour stop.

The partners of the 2nd tour stop are: Zillertal Tourismus GmbH, Zillertal Arena, Uniqueparks.com, Blue Tomato, Red Bull, Horsefeathers, Dana Beanies, the World Snowboard Federation (WSF), the Austrian Snowboard Federation (ASA) and World Rookie Tour (WRT).

Photo-Credit: (c) Zillertal Välley Rälley/by Gustav Hersmann