Here’s a little insight from behind the scenes.

It was a big couple of days for Ethan, especially because he was the only rider in the lineup who was German = The fans went crazy for him.

E-Man nailed just about every trick he did with perfect style and über-stomp and managed to kick out Iouri Podlatchikov in the first round. Anyone who’s seen Iouri ride at contests knows what skills he posseses so that’s a double high five for Ethan.

Unfortunately kicker machine Seppe Smits sent it a little further than Ethan in the next round, but as he said “no biggie”.

Ethan, we’re proud of you! Now let’s open your bag of tricks for the new movie. We’re pretty confident this little man (who actually ain’t so little anymore) will be dropping more hammers than a hardware store in the next months filming.

It was an exciting night in Munich with over 16,500 spectators in attendance at the Olympic Stadium where 16 of the worlds top snowboarders dropped into the massive big air gap jump, followed by a staircase that featured four different rail options. The Air & Style events are famous for the unique head-to-head tournament style format where the rider field is cut in half each round until there are only four remaining riders who battle it out for the win. It came down to Peetu Piiroinen, Seppe Smits (BEL), Halldor Helgason (ICL) and Nils Arvidsson(SWE) in the super final who all threw down some impressive tricks. In the end, Peetu prevailed with his Cab 1260 and was very happy about his win saying, “This Air & Style was so good to me. I did all three Air & Styles this year and got fifth in Beijing and second in Innsbruck, now first here, so I got better step by step. It feels amazing. And, when I think about the TTR ranking I for sure want to finish in the top three.”

Second place finisher, Seppe Smits, was super consistent all night stomping just about every single trick he attempted. His best scoring trick was his own variation of the Cab 1260 combined with a frontside noseslide to pretzel out in the final round. His second place here in Munich moved him into TTR World No. 2. And, coming in third place was Halldor, who was pushing his limits to take the last spot on the podium.

The atmosphere was electric when rider after rider took their three runs flying over the huge straight jump into the landing, in order to determine who would remain to compete in the super-final. Mark McMorris made his way to victory by knocking out Finnish shredder, Markus Malin, in the first round with a stylish Cab 1260 double cork. In the second round he edged out Sage Kotsenburg, who in the first round had thrown down a first in competition history, a Cab 1440 double cork, knocking out Canadian Sebastien Toutant. In the super final, on his last run, Mark stomped a stylish Backside 1260 double cork, which moved him ahead of Peetu Piiroinen.

With many changes in the rankings, the chase for the Swatch TTR Tour Champion title is heating up and next up is the 6Star Nike 6.0 Air & Style in Munich, Germany. The Air & Style Munich will fill another stadium with superstars and eager fans on February 12th at the Olympic Stadium. Watch the live webcast on freecaster.com and ttrwordltour.com starting at 16.30 GMT. Another major European event going next week is the 20-year anniversary celebration for the 5Star Nescafé CHAMPS Leysin in Switzerland, which will take place February 8th to 13th 2011. Keep up to date on all the Swatch TTR Action by keeping your eyes glued to ttrworldtour.com

Get your ticket or join the live stream here:

nike.com/​nikeos/​p/​nke6/​en_EMEA/​air_style

In this clip Halldor Helgason hit’s up Stockholm rails.

more info: nike6.com/​air-style

The course will feature a ginormous kicker that goes down into a secondary jump/ stair set – built especially for the show by Nike 6.0. To finish it all off the crowd will get to see legendary American punk rockers, Sum 41, ensuring it really will be an event to remember! So, make sure you set the date February 12th 2011 in your calendar as history may be in the making!

Elias Elhardt scores 3. at Air & Style Beijing, CONGRATULATIONS!

See more of Elias at nitrousa.com

Snowboarders from around the world made the trip to Beijing for the first major event of the Swatch TTR season, where they put on a spectacular display of top-level snowboarding for a crowd of excited Chinese fans. The snowboarders were pleased with the massive gap jump setup built out of scaffolding, which had riders dropping in from 40 meters above the ground in the Olympic Sports Center Stadium. The Air & Style events feature a unique head-to-head format and Sebastien Toutant, who won the event with a Cab 1260 double cork, overtook Smits in the final round beating his respectable backside 1260 for second place. Sebastien Toutant was ecstatic saying, “It’s awesome, I think it’s by far the best moment of my life, for sure. My first 6Star win, I’m stoked to be in China for the first time. Couldn’t have been better than to win the event today!” Elhardt was awarded third place for his backside 1080 double cork.

With his win Toutant advanced in the TTR World Rankings to the World No. 3 position. Another young gun, Seppe Smits (BEL), took the second place podium spot and Elias Elhardt (GER) took the third place position.