10th Red Bull Nanshan Open

local hospitality. The local Mellowparks.cn park and event crew step it up each year to build one of Asia’s top slopestyle terrain parks - mixing huge, perfectly shaped jumps with creative and challenging jib features in the Nike Nanshan Park. A true ‘for-riders-by-riders’ event, organizers Steve Zdarsky and Marco Huang can be seen testing the kicker and obstacle setup themselves on training day, while the rest of their crew always find time to ride and hang with the competitors post-event. It’s clear that the crew shares a strong passion towards the sport - surrounding the event with a truly friendly and laid-back atmosphere, somewhat rare in today’s competitions! As top snowboarders from all corners of the globe converge on Chinese soil for a shot at the prize, 2012 promises to be the year the 10th Red Bull Nanshan Open reaches new heights for Chinese snowboarding! From humble beginnings...

The Nanshan Open began in 2002 when a small group of friends threw the first snowboard competition ever held on Chinese soil. As the contest gained momentum and popularity the following years, in 2007 it earned global recognition as a 3Star stop on the TTR World Tour. The Nanshan Open ‘leveled up’ to 4Star status the subsequent year and in 2010 was the largest Asian event on the TTR World Tour. Now a 5Star event, the two-day competition offers up US$50,000 in prize money and is preceded by a 2Star local qualifier on January 7th that will earn six Chinese riders a chance to compete in the Open alongside their international idols! The event has hosted a who’s-who of up and coming riders, including Transworld’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ Austin Smith, young stars Nils Arvidsson and Anton Bilare along with the Isenseven, Nitro RoadWarriors and Pirate Movie Productions film crews. Past winners of the event include Juuso Laivisto (2010), Freddy Austbo (2009), Jakob Wilhelmson (2008) and Hampus Mosesson (2007), while everyone’s favorite OG shredder Travis Parker came on as guest judge for 2011. Last year saw local young-gun He Wei make a name for himself, placing 8th in the highest finish to date for a Chinese rider in a TTR competition.

2012 will be the Open’s sixth year with Red Bull as the title sponsor – this long term partnership has allowed both organizer and sponsor alike to focus on improving their event and raise the bar year after year. The Red Bull Nanshan Open has undoubtedly put China on the snowboarding map, and anticipation is high on what 2012 holds for the event!