With his insane style, making his run look almost too easy, Mikkel Bang claimed the lead early on in the finals with his first run; however it was his second effort that clinched the top spot. Kicking the run off with a gap to switch backside lipslide on the rail to an insanely smooth switch backside 900 mute, Mikkel cleaned up with a stalled out frontside alley oop off the hip. The Nippon Open always promises feats of gravity defying snowboarding and second place finisher Kazuhiro Kokubo did not disappoint with a solid run that included a 50/50 gap to boardslide to fakie, switch frontside 900 melon followed by an insane frontside alley oop corked frontside grab off the hip that could only be described as “freaking huge” by Head Judge Jason Grossi. Jaakko Ruha earned his first Burton Global Open Series podium finish with third place, charging with an impressive 50/50 gap to nosepress on the rail into a 1080 tailgrab over the jump into a backside 720 indy on the hip.
Mikkel earned $15,000 each for his first place finish and 8,000 points towards the Burton Global Open Series Championship title. Mikkel broke into the Top 10 standings for the men.
