[quote]Originally posted by osufan:
how many countries participate in this ?
The usual suspects - US, Canada, Japan, and the European countries. I don't know if there's anyone from South America competing, but there is certainly snowboarding in South America. New Zealand is also a popular destination in North America's summer.
_Transworld_:
http://www.solsnowboarding.com/ .
http://www.solsnowboarding.com/features/02/4378.html says:
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With the maximum of four riders in the main event, the U.S. certainly has as good a shot at a top-three placing as any other country. Interestingly enough, the Scaner countries of Finland, Sweden, and Norway all have four riders as well, in addition to Canada. Switzerland, Germany, and Japan all have three, while Spain, Poland, and Italy have one rider each.
The youngest competitor is Japan’s Takaharu Nakai, who’s 18. The oldest is Swiss rider Marcel Hitz, at age 28. The question is, will he live up to his name?
Other notables to watch are Canada’s Mike Michalchuk, who has supposedly been throwing double back flips and double Michalchuk’s in the same run. Insane.
Norway’s Kim Christiansen looked great in practice, as did Sweden’s Stefan Karlsson. Then it might someone a little less known like Finland’s Tuomo Ojala or France’s Mathieu Justafre, if someone would just set him free.
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