Nicholi Rogatkin Rules VIENNA AIR KING 2015

Vienna (AUT), April 12th 2015 – Nicholi Rogatkin becomes the first ever rider to win VIENNA AIR KING and the Panasonic Best Trick Competition. Thomas Genon joins him on the podium for the second time this season and pre-qualifier, Max Fredriksson proves his worth on the dirt to land in 3rd. Nicholi’s glory weekend began with an awesome win at the best trick jam session thanks to a massive backflip-360.

That’s a wrap! The 10th edition of the VIENNA AIR KING is done and dusted. A weekend in the sun at Vienna’s Rathausplatz was topped off by the awesome dirt jump contest. Crazy airtime, up to 9 meters high, gave the world’s best athletes enough time to throw down their gnarliest tricks. The story began on Friday with the pre-qualifying. From 40 riders, 14 proceeded into the qualifying to join the remaining 16 set athletes. One of these 14 was 19 year-old Max Fredriksson from Sweden…

The results were mixed, with big names further down the ranks and younger tricksters rising to the top. Heading to the finals, the podium was anyone’s game. For crowd favorites like Szymon Godziek and Antoine Bizet it was a case of all or nothing. In the end, the gamble didn’t pay off but they sure had fun trying. Other top riders like four-time champion Sam Pilgrim, Anton Thelander, Peter Henke and Tomas Lemoine struggled to stick their desired runs together from start to finish.

On Saturday, the earth trembled as jaws hit the ground during the Panasonic Best Trick Competition. A crowd, tens of thousands strong, gathered on Vienna’s Rathausplatz to witness the biggest and craziest tricks. Nicholi ruled the hour-long jam session with his huge backflip-360. Despite his victory in 2013, the “Cherrybomb” Russian, Pavel Alekhin could only seal 2nd place with his flipwhip barspin. He did get the crowd pumped with his incredible showmanship. The Frenchman, Antoine Bizet was nailing double backflips one after the other, looking to add that tuck nohander – but something just didn’t feel right. His solid performance awarded him third spot on the Panasonic Best Trick podium. Also worth mentioning was Szymon Godziek’s backflip double-barspin suicide, Tomas Zejda’s 360 tailwhip from the step down which the fans last saw in 2008 by American Paul Bas. A surprising addition to the jam session was Thomas Genon’s bikeflip.

Max Fredriksson is the first pre-qualifier to land on the podium (3rd, 85.66pts) at Vienna Air King. His run in the Sunday’s finals was a technical feast including a barspin-to-barspin-back from the step down, backflip barspin on the 9-meter hit, double whip and a triple truckdriver to finish. How was the Belgian Thomas Genon going to top that? Well, it began with a truckdriver from the step down, then a backflip barspin to tuck no hand and a smooth oppo 360 one-foot tabletop and ended with a wicked corked 720. Thomas Genon finished in 2nd with 88.33pts. Now all eyes were on the American athlete, who is taking the FMB World Tour by storm. Nicholi Rogatkin’s winning run scored 91.33pts and featured a tailwhip, backflip-360 at the big set, double tailwhip and his signature cashroll. An unbeatable trick throwdown, which awarded him the win.

Results

The Argus Bike Festival gave the passing visitors another fantastic weekend packed with world-class performances and exhibited the newest bikes and cycling products as the mountain bike season kicks-off. Vienna Air King event hosts would like to thank all the riders, spectators and media partners for a great weekend.
For more information go to www.vienna-air-king.at and www.facebook.com/viennaairking

VIENNA AIR KING 2015: Top High-Flyers Return For 10th Anniversary

Vienna, March 17^th 2015 – For the last ten years, the world’s elite mountain bike dirt jumpers have been gathering at Vienna’s town hall square for the VIENNA AIR KING. This year, the top dawgs are back from April 10^th to 12^th as the FMB World Tour Silver event celebrates its 10^th anniversary. Brett Rheeder (CAN) has two consecutive victories under his belt and will be riding for a third. Dirt jump maestro, Sam Pilgrim (GBR) is a top rival in the line up, but the competition does not stop there. Gemma Corbera will also be the first girl to challenge the guys at a FMB event.

Brett Rheeder will have to perform at his best to defend the VIENNA AIR KING title. After a long winter break, mountain bikings’ top athletes can no longer wait to get back on to the dirt. 16 of the world’s best dirt jump riders have been invited and roughly 45 pre-qualifiers will step up to the mark to compete at this 2015-jubilee edition. With his rookie year behind him, Nicholi Rogatkin is now getting down to business and will fly in from across the pond for a crack at the crown. The North American athlete caused a sensation last year with his cashroll and signature-trick, the long dart front flip. 2014’s second place and best-trick winner Szymon Godziek (POL) will try everything to step up a notch for the victory. Then there is also the trick machine, Thomas Genon (BEL) who landed in third last year but has a bag full of new technical combo’s to show off in Vienna.

Per usual, the French-connection stack the line up with their best riders including, youngster Tomas Lemoine, Louis Reboul, Antoine Bizet, Simon Pages and Mehdi Gani. From across the Channel, Great Britain is sending renowned high-flyer Daryl Brown, Matt Jones and previous VIENNA AIR KING Champion, Sam Pilgrim. Tomas Zejda will be representing the Czech Republic, Anton Thelander will be flying in from Sweden and Oszkar Nagy (HUN) will be looking for a strong start to the season in Vienna. From closer to home, Peter Henke will be riding for Germany.

Alongside the big names, 45 pre-qualifiers will be given the chance to ride at VIENNA AIR KING. Ten of these riders are resident Austrians and will have the home crowd advantage of moving up into qualifying. One of Vienna’s crowd favorites and 2013 Best Trick winner, Pavel Alekhin is back to get the spectators pumped and throw down more epic combos. From Canada, young gun Bobby Lamirande and experienced trick machine, Sam Dueck will be on course, ready for business. And for the first time, a girl will challenge the boys on dirt. Gemma Corbera from Barcelona will compete against the guys in Vienna for a spot in main contest. For all pre-qualifiers, the competition will be fierce; 14 will advance to qualifying and ride against the set riders - a unique opportunity for upcoming riders. All the action will go down on April 12^th at town hall square in Vienna.

Tomas Lemoine Hits The Slopestyle Scene With His New Partners

Munich, February 26th 2015 – Tomas Lemoine was the dark horse of the 2014 season. Sports marketing and communications agency rasoulution quickly recognized his talent and has signed with the young Frenchman. In addition to his new management, Tomas also welcomes new partners including Canyon bikes, Continental tires and ONE/ 661.
     
It all began when Tomas Lemoine, in his zebra pants, stood on the podium at Swatch Prime Line Munich. His podium result at the FMB World Tour Gold Event opened doors to the season’s big FMB Diamond Events. He later finished sixth at the Bearclaw Invitational (CAN) and Red Bull Joyride at Crankworx Whistler (CAN). Back in Europe, as the youngest rider in the field, he travelled to Nuremberg for Red Bull District Ride. His performance was just shy of a top ten result amongst the world’s best athletes.

 
Coming in strong, confident and with tones of style – Tomas has impressed the spectators, fellow riders and his new management. “We have been observing Tomas for a while now and for us, his great achievements and sportsmanship last season confirmed our beliefs. His positive attitude and professionalism fits our profile perfectly”, explains rasoulution founder and managing director Tarek Rasouli.
 
With a very successful career about to take off on the horizon, it did not take long for brands to recognize the youngest member of the “French Connection”. From now on, Tomas will be riding together with Peter Henke, Anton Thelander and Thomas Genon on the Canyon Factory Freeride Team. From 2015 you will see him throw down his epic trick combos on a Canyon Stitched and go big on a Torque DHX.
 
The athlete from Marseille is looking forward to the upcoming competitions: “2015 will be a great year and I am super stoked and motivated. I will try to ride all FMB Gold and Diamond Events. Thanks to rasoulution and to all my partners for their support and great start to the season.”
 
In charge of his style and safety will be ONE/ 661 and Oakley. His grip will be provided by Continental’s “Race King 2.2” and “Kaiser Project”. Tomas’ Canyon bikes will also be equipped with SRAM, Avid, Truvativ, RockShox, NC-17 and Novatec components.
 
Follow Tomas Lemoine’s Facebook Fanpage for news and stories throughout the season: www.facebook.com/TomasLemoineFanpage

FMB Diamond Series 2015 Event Calendar

Last year was the debut of the FMB Diamond Series, comprising of the five biggest events around the world. Brandon Semenuk took his third FMB World Championship title last year, but riders like Brett Rheeder, Anthony Messere and Thomas Genon were close behind. Now, a new season is on the horizon and it’s time for the 2015 battle to commence. To learn more about the 2015 FMB Diamond Series events, click here

Alongside the renowned Diamond events, Crankworx Whistler Slopestyle (CAN) and Red Bull Rampage (USA), three more contests, Crankworx Rotorua (NZL), Swatch Prime Line Munich (GER) and Crankworx Les 2 Alpes (FRA) are all on the schedule.

The top 10 athletes from the 2014 FMB Diamond Series are automatically qualified for the Diamond events and a shot at the 2015 world title. The next eight athletes will be selected in order of the world ranking – taken three weeks before each Diamond event. This means that for the remaining eight riders, Gold and Silver events are an important step to qualify or keep their spot into the Diamond Series stops. Six more riders will then be invited: the event host can give away five wildcards and the FMBA can grant one wildcard to a deserving athlete. The top 10 pre-qualified athletes for the 2015 FMB Diamond Series are:

Athletes that are not pre-qualified for the Diamond stops will have to secure their invitations at the Gold and Silver events. Heavy weight Gold events, such as FISE Montpellier (FRA), 26TRIX (AUT) and the Colorado Freeride Festival (USA) are also confirmed. The Silver event Vienna Air King (AUT) will be celebrating its 10^th anniversary this year. More Gold, Silver and Bronze events are still to register and one of the riders’ favorite, the Bearclaw Invitational (CAN) is still to be confirmed - so there is much to look forward to!

• Click here
• FMB Diamond Series: 2 events in Europe, 2 stops in North America, 1 brand new event in New Zealand
• For more information about the FMB World Tour 2015 event structure click here
• here
• All the action from the FMB Diamond series will be broadcasted live on and

Next FMB Diamond Series event: Crankworx Rotorua, March 29^th 2015 (Rotorua, NZL).

Useful links:

More information about the Diamond Series can be found on the FMB World Tour website:  www.fmbworldtour.com

For news and updates follow FMB World Tour on: facebook.com/fmbworldtour & twitter.com/fmbworldtour and Instagram.com/fmbworldtour