About 8,000 people found their way to the Uppsala Castle on Saturday afternoon last weekend to see some of the biggest names in freestyle MTB compete at the Martin Söderström Invitational. Under the glorious Swedish sunshine, one by one, the riders dropped in to raise the bar. The spectators were amazed and the riders pumped. The competition had it all: huge tricks, spectacular crashes, and suspense to the last second! See for yourself in the official highlight clip: win.gs/MSI_highlights .
Hometown wunderkind, 20-year-old Anton Thelander was crowned victorious, his second consecutive win at the Martin Söderström Invitational. Anton was rewarded with a spanking-new KTM Motocross bike. Fellow Swede, Nils Buller accompanied him on the podium, claiming second. Third was Antoni Villoni from France who pulled some of the most amazing tricks in the sport: a double backflip over the road gap and a cliffhanger backflip.
"It's my first competition since I broke my collar bone this the summer and it feels unbelievable to win. For the second time! Thank you Martin for making this competition happen and letting me experience this feeling!", said Anton Thelander from the top of the podium.
Anton's winning run was without a doubt the most technical. The host and event organizer, Martin Söderström was once again forced to follow his own event from the sideline in the role as expert commentator.
"I can hardly believe what we witnessed here today. I've been on FMB comps for eight years and the level in this competition is among the highest I've seen", says Martin Söderström who couldn't ride himself due to his injured foot.
The unique jam session contest format gave riders the chance to drop in as many times as they wanted in the last 40min heat. Riders could see their score as soon as they crossed the line and then decide whether to head back up to step up the game. Their final result combined the points from their top two runs. Thelander's highest scored run started with a 360 tailwhip down the first drop. He then pulled a flipwhip over the 45-foot road gap and finished off with a backflip oppo tailwhip.
The big surprise of the night was Nils Buller. The 18-year-old spends his weekdays in high school, but faced with an invite to this international competition he showed up to throw it down. Buller tied together a run including an incredible frontflip down the first drop, followed by a flatspin 360 over the road gap and a flipwhip to finish.
The Spanish rider, Bienvenido Alba deserves a massive shout for his double front flip during the qualifying rounds. This crazy trick is a debut at a MTB contest. To see just how gnarly a trick of this caliber is, check out Bienve's GoPro POV here: http://bit.ly/bienvepov
Martin Söderström Invitational results 2014:
- Anton Thelander (SWE), 183,33 p
- Nils Buller (SWE), 175,56 p
- Antoni Villoni (FRA), 174,44 p
- Szymon Godziek (POL), 173,89 p
- Alex Alanko (SWE), 160,00 p
Missed the action? No problem! The Martin Soderstrom live replay is available here: http://www.svtplay.se/video/2290948/mountainbike-martin-soderstrom-invitational/slopestyle