The rest of the group included Cory Coffey, Stephanie Sara Rohr and Nikita Ducarroz. Cory being a USA national was not counted in the final rankings but still took part in the event and showed us some flowy runs using the bigger features in the park. Stephanie took a big fall right at the beginning of her first run which gave her only one run in which to try and score as high as possible, but she was no match for Nikita who straight away showed us why she’s an Olympic medallist, with two banger runs, tricking everything and also sending a clean 360 over the enormous Cadenazzo box.
The men’s event had the inclusion of two 13-year-old riders who would not be counted in the rankings due to their age: local rider Simone Piccirilli and Edgar Huber who made the trip down from Basel. Somebody told me that it was Simone’s first ever BMX competition, so it was great to see him throw down in his local park and remind the riders of the adrenalin rushes they got at their first competition. Eddy on the other hand, despite being so young, was already familiar with the setting and showed us that the future is bright, with runs comprising backflips, 360 combos and clean tailwhips to pedals. We can safely say that the future of BMX freestyle in Switzerland is in good hands with these two youngsters.
The rest of the field was made up from Matthias Hilber, Mike Baranyai, Louis Schneider, Alex Sideris, Simon Yacoub, and Alessio Tonoli – the reigning Swiss champion from two years ago. We saw a mix of riding styles from Matthias’ technical street moves, to Mike’s smooth flow, to Alex’s trademark huge airs. It was great to see another local rider and partial event organiser Simon Yacoub throw a huge 360 over the jump box, showing that having this sort of facility pays serious dividends to the local riding scene.
It became evident that the fight for first place was going to be fiercely contested between Alex Sideris and Alessio Tonoli. Alessio defended his title well, with two action packed runs which included some serious creativity such as his run along the highest deck of the park to caveman drop in, not to mention his extensions in his superman seatgrabs and indian airs. However it was Alex who took the win, with runs consisting of 360 combos, tailwhips, flairs and a leve
l of amplitude which just left behind the rest of the pack. The third place spot was taken by Louis Schneider who held together a solid run with a variety of tricks and combos.
A huge thanks to Jo Dovat from Swiss Cycling and Simon Yacoub from Freestyle Park Ticino for managing to organise such an awesome event and for inviting me to MC.
Text by Patrick Blunt
Pics by @FilippoDelzanno
Mens Results
1) Alex Sideris 88.33
2) Alessio Tonoli 86.00
3) Louis Schneider 76.00
4) Simon Yacoub 70.00
5) Mathias Hilber 65.00
6) Mike Baranyai 53.55
Ladies Results
1) Nikita Ducarroz 85.33
2) Stephanie Sara Rohr 36.67
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