BEO & Nescafe Champs

The past couple of weeks i have been at the Burton European Open and the Nescafe Champs with Henry Shackleton its been a fun couple of weeks in Laax and Leysin Switzerland.

At the BEO it was the pre qualie for slopestyle first. They had moved the slopestyle course to a different place this year it was better because it was a drag lift and not a long chair so the lap of the course was a lot faster :D. The park was good they had a down rail or a up rail to 2 small jumps which were called the flow section because they were really close together then 2 larger jumps and then the creative use of space feature where you had a wall ride to a drop over a mini car or to a poll tap or you could hit the other side and it was a metal bar / hip type thing to a down flat down or a down rail, the person who got the most creative won 5000€. Unfortunately the pre quaies got cancelled due to strong winds and bad visibility so they put everybody into the qualis the next day, i came 22nd in my heat and ended up 72nd overall.

Next up was halfpipe qualies, the pipe is so good at Laax i was really looking forward to this. The top 10 riders went through to the Semifinals, i came 21st and end up 37th overall.

All in all a good week at the BEO, good pipe always was nicely shaped, fun slopestyle course and the rail line down to the chair lift was sick.

After the BEO we headed to the Nescafe champs in Leysin the course was a flat down box to a halfpipe to a jump and then a feature on the bottom me and henry were in the last chance qualifying round were 6 went threw i finished 8th just missing out :( and henry fell both runs.

Has been a good couple of weeks. Been back home was looking forward to riding more of the new park in Meribel, however jump hasnt be so good and other features have been taken down to re build, so i am off to Laax for a weeks training before The Brits.

The world rookie fest half pipe comp in Italy

Over the weekend i was in Italy for the World Rookie Fest Halfpipe comp and Italian Masters Halfpipe comp in Monte Bondone. I travelled over with Henry Shackleton, plus there were a few other GB snowboarders there Max Thidling, Ayla Thindling, Maise Potter and Nathalie Silkstone. The Hotel the Rookie fest people put us up in was sick, 4* with pool, sauna, spa, salt room! food was also good and plentiful we had about 6 courses a night! although there was strange stuff on the menu one night was donkey! i think i was the only one to go for this!!

Me and Henry were looking forward to riding a good pipe, as we were told it was a superpipe and one of the best in europe (which should mean it would be 20-22') however it was about a 12ft haha! it was still fun though.

It was such a good few days, and lots of stuff put on by the Rookie Fest team. We went night riding, which was all good sessioning the park, jam went down on the down flat down box. We also went for day out to Trento, tour of old town and castles, then we went to to a cafe where they laid on hot chocolate and loads of cakes, which was real good.

For the competition The GB team did amazing, with every one of use making the finals!! On the finals day in the girls Maise finishing 3rd and Nathalie 2nd so sick and then in the rookies mens Henry finished 4th just missing out on the podium and I finished 1st I could not believe it so stocked!!

Straight after prize giving we headed to the top of the mountain refuge for food and drinks again laid on by the Rookie fest people, then we got to ride down in the dark!!

We all decided to stay around for the Sunday as there was another competition in the same halfpipe, Italian Masters open. Again Maise finished 3rd and Nathalie 2nd in the womens. In the mens me, Max and Henry were in the rookie age group and all qualified for the finals, it was quite funny because it was the Italian open and in or finals it was just GB and the Netherlands haha! Henry finished 4th and I finished 3rd, and not only in the Rookie age group we also finished 3rd and 4th overall.

It was a really good weekend !! so much fun and some good results wooo :)

Here is a link to more coverage and a little video http://www.worldsnowboardfederation.org/article940-cj-lewis-and-diana-augustinova-won-the-halfpipe-rookie-fest.html

the End off the Youth Olympics :(

The last few days at the YOG were sooo much fun..

Thursday was the first ever slopestyle competition at the Olympics! Course was really good it was a down rail or down flat down to a bonk to a canon, wall ride or flat box, to a down box or a down flat rail or a rainbow, yep thats right 4 jib sections! which then lead in to 2 jumps. It was a fun course to ride and i was sticking all my tricks in training and then in qualification i placed 7th which was good enough to get me into the finals, i was stoked on that. The finals were due to be held the next day, however as the forecast was not good they decided to run the finals straight after the qualies as the bad weather was already coming in. The wind and snow made it really hard to land a run, i think 4 riders stuck there 1st run, i was unable to land either of my 2 runs which was disappointing, i ended up finishing 16th out of 28 :)

This was me done for my events, however there was lots still going on, supporting the rest of Team GB, organised events and parties! was soo much fun and so many people from all over the world all our age group to meet and have fun with.

There was a new skate park right next door to the olympic village which only opened on the 17th December, they had a fun street section, a bowl and a sick mini ramp!! Tyler (freestyle skier), Woody (ice skater) and me spent most of our time in the mini ramp because there was nobody else skating it :) haha it was good fun i learned some new tricks in it which im stocked on and it was only 2€ to get in :). If you are ever in Innsbruck check this place out.

We went to watch Katharine who was doing the ice hockey and had a real medal chance, she ended up finishing 5th the scores were so tight the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th all had the same score, very unlucky. We did get a gold and silver medal in the short track relay and a silver in women's bobsleigh well done guys and girls!!!! It was a fun few days so gutted to be back home !! Missing every one!!

It has been an amazing experience, one i will never forget. Hopefully i can push on from here and get the chance to experience this again at the full Olympics in 2014 or 2018.. Thanks for all the support and messages everyone sent me during the games, made me soo happy!

This is me stoked to have made the finals in the Slopestyle, cool that i was allowed to wear my new O'Neill jacket from the 2012/13 collection.

These are my sick new Head bindings, they even got me them in Team GB colours! next seasons with the new soft base.

This is me in the halfpipe at Kuhtai, the setting for both snowboard comps.

The Youth Olympics so far.

I am currently at the first ever Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, when we arrived at the YOG village we got told who are room mates were and me and Tyler Harding (freestyle skier) got put in a room together with another Lewis (ice hockey)! we were so stocked!!! :D In our room the duvets were Team GB duvets and we got Team GB pillows with or names on them there so sick!!!

I have been having so much fun meeting lots of new people!! It is a really mad experience, the village is for over 1000 athletes all aged 15-18 years old, and just like being at the real Olympics, security and having to hide your sponsors etc is so strange, but amazing fun... haha

I have been riding the halfpipe in kuhtai for a couple of days which was so sick had so much fun, then it was qualies and i made it to the semi finals which was amazing, in the semis i fell on one of the easyest tricks in the book a cab 3 :( fail, oh well it happens.

The finals in pipe were sick with the American Ben Ferguson going massive and doing a double crippler, and cleaning up!!

I have now started training for the slopestyle event, we qualies on thursday, ill try my best to make the finals in that!!! :) The course setup is cool.

I plan to get to a few of the other events and support my fellow Team GB atheltes, in Bobsleigh, Curling, Ice Hockey, Ice Skating. Innsbruck is a great location and an amazing experince for me and i still have nearly a week left!!

O'Neill Evolution 2012

I am currently at the O'Neill Evolution in Davos, this year they have built a 25m jump the Biggest jump i have ever hit was so scary and it was really whippy one of those jumps where every time you get to the top you still get the same scared feeling LOL, but was fun did some back 3s off it, today comp day was really bad weather tipping it down with snow couldn't get enough speed for the big jump so they did the comp on the small one which is still 16m in practice i was landing every thing clean,
but come to first run i fell on my fs7 and second run i stomped my fs7 but did a sketchy fs board slide on the down bar finish in my heat around 20th, the other team GB guys did really good with Billy Morgan qualifying in 1st place over all and Jamie Nicholls qualifying in 2nd in his heat but unlucky to Sam Turnbull finishing 11th and Ben killner 12th when the top ten go throw!!! Its been snowing all day there has been over 50cm of snow so tomorrow POWDER DAY WOOOOOO!!!!

Off to the Youth Olympics!

Just a few days a go i got selected to represent GB in the Youth Olympics in Innsbruck in Jan, I am the only British and one of only 16 snowboarders from the world to be going i cant believe it so stocked!!! :D

With the good snow in Courchevel and snowboarding with my mates and now being selected for the Youth Olympics it has been an amazing Christmas.

Better get some serious training in now though! i am going to head to Laax and Davos early Jan to get a week or so riding halfpipe and big jumps, with Team GB snowboarders and my fellow youth olympian freestyle skier Tyler Harding. Plus take in big air comp O'Neill Evolution and Junior Audi Series Halfpipe. Hopefully this will be enough to get me ready for the YOG which starts on 14th Jan.

Snow in Courchevel !!!!!

Christmas has come early !!! So far in courchevel this year it has been amazing, been riding now for 2 weeks and every day its been fresh tracks !! so much fun.. Although it didnt look like it was going to be this good as when the lifts opened on the 3rd dec we only had 1 slope and that was snowmaking! then the snow started and we got 165cm of snow in 2days that's more snow than we got the hole of last year, but it didnt stop there its kept on snowing and in the next 2 days were meant to get another 80cm!! at the moment we have got 2m of snow depth ! so every one should pack there bags and get to Courchevel! thats if i leave you some snow still to be tracked!!!