So many things are outlawed in China that it’s actually pretty insane that the braintrusts behind Oakley were able to throw a six-star TTR Air and Style event in Beijing. Snowboarding itself is slowly coming into its own here in the red state, and this event made our sports top guys look like real heroes.
In true Air and Style fashion, a big ol’ booter was made out of scaffolding and set up in a huge stadium, allowing thousands of fans to get a glimpse of the action, and young Sebastian Toutant delivered. For a few seasons now, this little guy has been turning heads, so it’d be redundant to call him an up-and-comer, or the next big thing, but there I went and did it anyway, because he’s the coolest thing to come outta Canada since Tim Horton’s.
Seb Toots, as either his friends or the marketing-savvy industry call him, is known for his double-corks, and he let one out of the bag right away but it got away from him and he took a mean digger. Spirits unabashed he went up there, tried the cab 1260 double cork again, and locked down the win.
Behind Seb on the podium were young guns Seppe Smits and Elias Elhardt, who just edged out Mikkel Bang’s backside 1440 in fourth place. Curiosity was abound prior to the event as to why Shaun White’s name was on the posters like a sponsor, and while he did not compete, he really did some good things for the sport, by acting as an ambassador and giving out over a dozen interviews each day to various global media outlets to spread awareness. Good on ya Shaun!
