“The event was a big success – the line-up was better than ever before at the Simpel Session’s summer contests, the weather was great despite the worrisome forecasts, and the course was constantly surrounded by a cheering crowd. With BMX legends Darryl Nau and Andy Zeiss as announcers, the whole Helsinki main square was filled with energy, firing up one of the most amazing and inspiring Simpel Session contests so far,” said Risto Kalmre, founder and main organizer of Simpel Session.

A total of 67 riders competed in the contest, with close to half of them from Scandinavian and Baltic countries, to whom the contest serves as a qualification for the Simpel Session main contest, Europe’s biggest BMX- and skateboarding wintertime event taking place in February 2012 in Tallinn, Estonia (to be announced). The prize for Best Scandinavian performance went to the 21-year-old Adrian Malmberg from Sweden, placing 21st in the qualifications. The only Nordic rider who qualified to the finals was the Estonian shredder Andres Lainevool, who in the end did not ride the finals because of an injury, but was still recognized with the Best Baltic Rider award.

Three-time Simpel Session silver medalist Gary Young blazed his way around the course in his usual fashion, firing out all sorts of jumping variations, doing gaps to rails and finding lines that no one else could, keeping his flow and fluidity of lines at an unmatched level and earning the gold medal.

Silver medalist Alex Coleborn proved that he’s a trick machine and sessioned the huge boxjump with a barrelroll whip and other variations. The British rider also fired out moves like triple whip from the huge quarter bank set-up and ended the contest with a bang – a massive flair to footjam out of the 8-foot quarter to the top of the 7-foot bank.

Daniel Tünte secured his bronze medal by impressing the judges with pulling all his hard tricks on the first try. He had both the street moves and impressive ramp tricks, both pulled with an effortless style.

Other notable contestants included several top names from the Etnies and Sunday Bikes USA teams, and members of Fly Bikes, Vans and Nike European teams: among them Alessandro Barbero (ITA), Tommy Dugan (USA), Daniel Wedemejier (NL), Markus Reuss (GER), Corey Martinez (USA), Nathan Williams (USA), Kevin Kalkoff (FRA), Sergio Layos (SPA), Stefan Lantschner (ITA), Paul Ryan (GBR), Daniel Penafiel (SPA) and other athletes such as Greg Illingworth (ZA), Ondra Zlez (CZE) and many others.

The contest bikepark was once again designed by Nate Wessel, responsible for many historic action sports courses of X-Games, Woodward Camps and beyond. It was built by Simpel Sessions own dedicated crew.

More info on the contest, photos and videos can be found at Session.fi or simpelsession.com and on Facebook page Facebook.com/SimpelSession