The Arctic Challenge podium was rounded out by Norwegian favorites Torstein Horgmo in second place and Mikkel Bang in third.
With Sunday's win, Piiroinen earned US$35,000 along with the title. The Finn has landed on the podium at every 6Star event on the Tour this season. He took second place at the 6Star Billabong Air & Style in Innsbruck, Austria, third place at both the slopestyle and halfpipe at the 6Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos, Switzerland, and victories in both formats at the 6Star Burton European Open in Laax, Switzerland.
“It has been the best season ever. Silver medal at the Olympics and now the TTR title. I have got so many podium places and I have had no injuries, it could not have been better,” Piiroinen said after Sunday's competition.
In Sunday's final, Piiroinen stomped an incredibily clean last run that consisted of a switch cab 270 to fakie on the top rail, frontside 540 melon on the canon rail, backside 1080 late cork, backside rodeo 720 and a gigantic frontside crail on the hip.
Piiroinen remained modest despite his performance this season. “I really didn't expect to win here at the Arctic Challenge, but I knew that I had a good chance to take the title here. It feels so good to take both. And it is the second title in a row. Now I can take it easy and maybe drink a beer.”
The founder of the TTR tour and owner of the Oakley Arctic Challenge, Terje Haakonsen of Norway praised Piiroinen’s ability to ride all formats on the TTR Tour.
“That is why he is a good snowboarder. He is not specialized, but can ride all of them, also when it comes to quarterpipe he can ride really big. He had a lot of second and third places but he is always the guy that can win. He is just a really solid and inventive rider,” Haakonsen said of Piiroinen.
The race for the Top 5 spots in the Swatch TTR ranking is on fire with the final 6Star event, the Burton U.S. Open, kicking off in just one week’s time. Eric Willett (USA) moved into the TTR World No.5 spot with a 9th place Sunday, and up and coming rookie Roope Tonteri (FIN) moved into TTR World No.7 with a 7th place. Seppe Smits (NED) made the move into the TTR World Top 10 with a fourth place finish Sunday. With two more 6Star results on the menu at the Burton U.S. Open the Top 5 is a desired place as all riders want a piece of the Swatch TTR end-of-season prize purse of US$200,000, as well as guaranteed invites to next season’s 6Star events.
The Burton U.S. Open is only one week away with action kicking off March 15 at Stratton Mountain, Vermont.
