Industry News
A Swatch Nines week of non-stop ski and snowboard action at Schilthorn, Switzerland, has concluded with three new snow sports world records as Valentino Guseli, Kim Gubser, and Brooke D’Hondt soared to new heights in excellent conditions.
A “Perfect Hip” was built on the Swiss summit with the express mission of safely sending riders sky-high, with two snowboarders and one skier setting new highest-air world records.
Gubser (SUI, SKI) logged the biggest air of the week, hitting a high of 14.6 meters (47.9 feet) on Friday, April 12. This broke the previous record of 14.2m (46.6ft) set by American David Wise in 2016. The 23-year-old freestyler Gubser said, “I tested it out a little bit with smaller speed and then got faster and faster. We were looking where the limit was, and I found it. I found my limit.”
Just a few hours after Gubser, Guseli (AUS, SNB) flew to a height of 11.5 meters (37.7 feet), topping Swiss snowboarder Christian Haller’s record of 11.3m (37.1ft), also set back in 2016. Guseli, 19, said: “I was just going as big as possible. I’d say it’s the biggest hip I ever hit. And the gnarly thing about it is that you already have to go big when you first hit it.”
D’Hondt (CAN, SNB) established the first official record for the highest women’s snowboarding hip air on Thursday after she reached a height of 7.3 meters (23.9 feet). The 19-year-old said: “I always wanted to come to this event, and having a bigger hip feature is kind of playing to my strengths. It does not get easier standing up there. Especially the first one of the day, it’s just as scary as the first time ever hitting it. But the feeling of stomping it, nothing beats it.”
The three new world records are among the highlights of a week-long session that saw a crew of 40 invited riders from 13 countries tackle a custom course of features beyond the Perfect Hip.
Swatch Nines was founded in 2008 as a friendly antagonist to traditional contests by providing unique playgrounds for action sports athletes to progress their skills as safely as possible in a non-competitive setting, with filmmakers and photographers capturing unforgettable moments. Founder Nico Zacek declared: “The mission of Swatch Nines is to provide a platform for athletes to express their creativity and push their limits in a safe and non-competitive environment. The fact that we can break records like these shows that we’re doing something right. I can’t believe what the athletes achieved on this setup. It’s gratifying to see something you’ve been planning for so long finally come to fruition and exceed all your expectations.”
