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Everybody already expected that we will see sport on a really high level here in Ukkohalla.


Nevertheless it was impressive and nearly incredible what the riders showed on the second day of the European championship in Finland. 

Already in the semifinals 9 of the top 10 riders worldwide showed how tight the 

competition is going to be. On the one hand some riders who just moved up to the open category and on the other hand riders like the German Dominik Gührs make it even more challenging in this class. This demonstrates the development in the boardsport scene, within the last year and also the increasing interest in boardsports. Even before the heros of cable wakeboarding started their finals, the wakeskaters had to show their tricks. Everyone who ever skated in his life can imagine how skilled you have to be to ride a skate on the water. 

At their first official Wakeskate European championships, the male riders showed how talented they are and not just the Wakeboarders were impressed by that. 

Lukas Süß from Duisburg in Germany won the first gold in the history of wakeskating. Together with Tim Schwiertz and Frederik Kuepper there were 3 German riders on the podium. In the open category of the wakeskaters Andy Kolb, the indisputable worlds best wakeskater in this scene won the title. With a difference of 10 points to the second place he showed how talented he is and why he is the new European champion.
Just before 4 pm it was the Wakeboarders turn again. The first medals were awarded to the Masters: Place 1 with 81,00 points - Loic Le Bras (FRA); Place 2: Florian Keim (GER) and Place 3: Hermann Emmer (AUS). 
 

In the following finals of the Junior Men the german- and worldchampion Moritz Petri was not participating. He was already knocked out in the semifinals when he risked way too much and fell in both runs. At 6 pm and right in time the livestream was sent by 67 web tv channels worldwide. In this way everyone who is interested in boardsport got the possibility to watch what was going on at the European championships. The Junior Ladies, who got the honor of riding first during the live stream were mainly riding on the same level- anything could happen. Finally Sophia Marie Reimers made it to the top position. Silver was awarded to Mayanka Jansen (NL), who seemed like the winner before Sophia caught up with her with second run. Bronze was awarded to Victoria Young (GB). 

Straight away in the Semi Finals of the Open men, for some riders not everything was going the way it should be. Nick Davies (GB) had several problems with his run. In the finals the spectators got to watch the expected battle on the water. All riders risked nearly everything. Everyone already knew by that time, that the one rider with an absolute dream run had the chance to reach first place. The Austrian Daniel Fetz missed the final after a crash right at the engine tower. After his runs in the qualification this was pretty unexpected. Lior Sofer from Israel also missed his qualification for the final. They could not keep up with the speed and shortness of intervals of the high-level tricks anymore. Not at all an easy job for chiefjudge Tibor Althans (D) and his judges George Newell (GBR), Maximilian Gerth (D) and Sebastiaan Huizinga (NL). Mobe5, Toeside Frontside900, Double S-bend are only a few of the inverted tricks which are shown at this european championship. Even the Finnish top riders of the snowboard scene like Eero Ettala (european rider of the year), and 20 other top snowboarder and rookies from Finland who arrived here with Eero Ettala, were really impressed. 
The biggest surprise today was in the Open Ladies category. After her first run Maxine Sapulette (NL) was only in second place. But in her second run she turned up the heat leaving Kirsteen Mitchell (GBR) and Steph Caller (GBR) in second and third place. In the 

Open Men category there was an exciting head-to-head battle between Dominik Gührs (D) , Nick Davies (GBR), Mike Ketellapper (NL) and Steffen Vollert (D). Before they started their second run everything was possible. Nick had the advantage to start last after he scored best in his first run. Mike Ketellapper was in the second place for a while after his crash in the first run. At the end he could be happy with a third position. Nick Davies crashed in his second run and could not keep up with Dominik anymore. Steffen Vollert lost his top position and had to be satisfied with his second place. Dominik Gührs showed what he had already proven the present season. He could reach the Gold Medal with an incredible second run. In this way the victory was secured for the German team.



In the team scoring Great Britain reached the second place right in front of the Netherlands. The riders say Thank You to the organizer of this EC at the Ukkohalla Wakepark ( www.ukkohalla.fi ) It is nice to be at the northernmost Cableway of the world. Everyone said: "We will come again" - for snowboarding, wakeboarding or just for holidays - it is always worth to travel to Ukkohalla.