2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
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2006 (-2.6 C. / 23,741 visitors) 1. Nicolas MULLER (Switzerland)  2. Eero ETTALA (Finland) 3. Trevor ANDREW (Canada) 3. Takato TANIGUCHI (Japan) Following on from last year, the contest in 2006 started while it was snowing on and off. Although there was an upset during qualification when one of the title favorites, Roger HJELMSTADSTUEN (Norway), went out after failing to pull off his landing, 3 Japanese riders, Syota SUZUKI, Shigeaki TAKAHASHI and Takato TANIGUCHI went through to the next round. In the quarter final, SUZUKI threw down the gauntlet against to last year's winner Eero ETTALA (Finland) but was beaten. TAKAHASHI took on the "precision machine" Nicolas MULLER (Switzerland) and showed a cool-headed approach when putting his experience to use, but couldn't break Nicolas's perfect air and went out... Whilst Japanese riders kept losing one after another, Takato was the only Japanese who went through the semi-final with his original "Masakari Air", leaving behind Joni MALMI with his BS720. Takato faced off against Nicolas MULLER with the perfect air in the semi-final. Nicolas failed to land on the first air, although he had made no mistakes before that. It seemed Takato had a chance to win. However, as colud be expected from the precision machine, Nicolas made the switch BS540 in the second air, and beat Takato who continued trying to go through to the super final with "Masakari Air". In the super final, Nicolas took on Eero ETTALA who won the last year's contest with a Switch Double Backflip and was aiming for his second consecutive championship victory. Both failed to make the landing in the first air, and the second air became the game... And then something symbolizing this year's contest happened. Jumping first, Nicolas' approach suggested to Eero that he was going into the showdown with a spin. Just as he announced, Nicolas made a beautiful CAB900 and also made the landing, and received the highest score in the contest's history, 257 points. And the next became the final air of this contest. While over 23,000 visitors focused on with breathless interest, Eero responded Nicolas' challenge and risked life and limb with 1080. Eero showed 3 perfect spins. And for a moment everyone thought he had made a perfect landing as well, until a puff of snow was flipped out, Eero had failed the landing. In the spin duel that both riders' had decided upon, this missed landing at the very last moment declared Nicholas the winner. Last year's TOYOTA BIG AIR required high level tricks where a 1080 did not mean "King of Air". This year, in the dense and adventurous gamesmanship, the power to assess the atmosphere and the clue to victory was added to the necessity of tricks. - 2005 (-1.6 C. / 22,910 visitors) 1. Eero ETTALA (Finland) 2. Mathieu CREPEL (France) 3. Roger HJELMSTADSTUEN (Norway) 3. Nicolas MULLER (Switzerland) The contest in 2005 started in bad weather with heavy snow as if challenging the men trying to reach the top position. Veteran members including "Samurai" Akifumi Hiraoka (Japan) who has attended all "Toyota Big Air" contests and Marc-Andre Tarte (Canada) a winner last year, didn't make it through the qualification round. In the middle of these harsh conditions, Takato Taniguchi (Japan), who had come through the preliminary round, went to the quarter final with his original "Masakari Air", the top riders got serious. However, Takato Taniguchi was beaten in the quarter-final and Mathieu Crepel (France) and Eero Ettala (Finland), who was one step from victory in the final last year, got the tickets to the super final with unerring judgment and stomped airs. In the super final, Eero finally succeeded in pulling off a "Double Back Flip" for the first time after 3 attempts in the qualification rounds, and received a score of 277 points, which was the highest in the history of the contest. Even though Mathieu pulled off a 1080, and got 256 points, the goddess of victory smiled down on Eero who resolutely rose to the challenge in a severe fight. The level of skill required to be called "King of Air" increases every year. It has already come to the point where a 1080 does not mean victory. - |
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2004 (+1.5 C. / 22,728 visitors) 1. Marc-Andre TARTE (Canada) 2. Eero ETTALA (Finland) 3. Daniel FRANCK (Norway) The temperature of this year was over the 0 centigrade, which was rare for an extremely cold region, Hokkaido. The super final list was named with Daniel Franck who aimed for the championship as a return match of the previous year, Marc-Andre Tarte who has stupendous physical ability and "super rookie" Eero Ettala. On the first air of the super final, Eero and Daniel failed in the landing, while Mark made a perfect high jump and got the first place with 251 points. Could he run away from the chase of Eero and Daniel? On the second air, Mark challenged a spin of 1280 degrees which nobody tried before. It was not perfect but the audience was astounded at his feats with excitements. In the end, he won the title of "King of Air" at his second appearance on TOYOTA BIG AIR. - |
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2003 (-5.0 C. / 24,285 visitors) 1. Roger HJELMSTADSTUEN (Norway) 2. Daniel FRANCK (Norway) 3. Stefan GIMPL (Austria) Despite of the blizzard, the number of the audience was the largest in the history of TOYOTA BIG AIR. As soon as the qualification round finished, the snow stopped falling and the super final began. On the first air, Stefan Gimple took his stand at the first place, who was strongly longing for the victory, the second place was taken by a "legendary man" Daniel Franck and the third place was taken by Roger Hjelmstadstuen. On the second air, Hjelmstadstuen achieved "1080". It was perfect from its height, leap and difficulty of the trick and won the first victory for him at TOYOTA BIG AIR. |
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2002 (-3.0 C. / 22,798 visitors) 1. Shaun WHITE (USA) 2. Stefan GIMPL (Austria) 3. Akifumi HIRAOKA (Japan) The ramp was the highest in TOYOTA BIG AIR history and it was 37 meters. A 15-years-old talented boy, Shaun White blocked the way of Stefan Gimple who were aiming at the first championship at TOYOTA BIG AIR, taking the advantage of his championship at "air & style" for three years running. He was crowned "King of Air" in 2002 getting 275 points, the highest score in the history at the second air of the super final round. As for Japanese rider, Akifumi Hiraoka fought bravely and won the third place. Haku Suzuki got the seventh place after passing through the preliminary stage. - |
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2001 (-3.9 C. / 21,852 visitors) 1. Guillaume MORISSET (Canada) 2. Roger HJELMSTADSTUEN (Norway) 3. Stefan GIMPL (Austria) Despite the bad weather with intermittent snowing, the contest assembled more than 20,000 people. Guillaume Morisset beat Stefan Gimple who had kept the championship of "air & style" for two years running, obtaining high score with his high air and tricks. This was a great achievement for the first appearance on TOYOTA BIG AIR. - |
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2000 (-0.8 C./ 18,852 visitors) 1. Jonas EMERY (Switzerland) 2. Stefan GIMPL (Austria) 3. Daniel FRANCK (Norway) This year's title was "TOYOTA BIG AIR 2000" in the honor of the millennium. TOYOTA BIG AIR had been directed with the theme of "fire" since 1997 and it was appealed more vividly this year to become the greatest competition of the 20th century. Stefan Gimple who won the 2nd place in the previous year, new comer Jonas Emery and Daniel Franck showed the heated battle at the super final stage. In the end, Jonas won the top position of the podium. A Japanese rider, Hiraoka fought bravely but placed seventh place. - |
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1999 (-8.0 C./16,147 visitors) 1. Michi ALBIN (Switzerland) 2. Stefan GIMPL (Austria) 3. Jim RIPPEY (USA) 19-years-old, Stefan Gimpl marked a new phase in TOYOTA BIG AIR this year. He was an unknown rider at that time but beat powerful players one after another with his small body and innate strength of his legs. Then he contented for victory with the previous year's champion, Michi. He also won at the "air & style" which was held in Austria in December and he stood at the top as a straight jumper. - |
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1998 (-6.3 C./ 13,258 visitors) 1. Michi ALBIN (Switzerland) 2. Juha TENKKU (Finland) 3. Narufumi YOSHIMURA (Japan) The height of the ramp was 35 meters. In this year, a Japanese rider Yoshimura mounted the podium for the first time. Making the best use of the ramp scale, he showed the large air holding the long flight duration and got the highest score. It proved that a Japanese rider can vie in the international field. |
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1997 (-2.9 C./11,352 visitors) 1. Fabien ROHRER (Switzerland) 2. Max PLOETZENNEDER (Austria) 3. Michi ALBIN (Switzerland) Snowboard started to be recognized as a fashion this year. ISF official straight jump contest arrived in Japan for the first time and "TOYOTA BIG AIR" was born, lighting a sacred torch since 25 years after Sapporo Olympic. The contest got over 10,000 audience in February of an extremely cold region, Sapporo. |