On September 21, 22 and 23, Zurich hosted the Freestyle CH, one of the oldest and most prestigious urban events dedicated to alternative sports.

This event is surely the event with the least freestyle organisation of all the events called "freestyle". And, as they say in Switzerland, "it's delightful" to see a bit of professionalism in this little world that is almost too free.

Once again an irreproachable organisation, scheduling organised to the nearest second, a tempting selection of riders, and you would almost have believed they had purchased the sun as well, so much the summer was still in evidence.

During this weekend, there were still some 40,000 jovial people gathered on the Landiwiese, the spot of the Zurich freestyle scene for the past 20 years. Most of them were barely 18 and all had come out attired in their best-looking t-shirt (the one specially bought for the event), their most snazzy sneakers (the ones specially bought for their return to the classroom) and not forgetting the base-ball cap. These last few years it had been easier to count the number of youths who were not wearing studded belts than the other way around &hellipwhereas in 2007 it is definitely the new era base-ball cap that is THE obligatory accessory! It makes you wonder whether "freestyle" fashion is really freestyle. Because if you work on the assumption that "freestyle" literally means "free style" then these young fans of "freestyle" are not actually as freestyle as all that... they all, quite frankly, seem to look alike - not really very "freestyle".

But Freestyle.ch, apart from being a sort of fashion show of all the latest collections, is, before all else, the European crossover skiing and board sports event par excellence. To sum it up&hellip

SKATEBOARD

From the qualifications, Brazilian superstar, Rodrigo Menezes showed he was dominating the contest. His very smooth style, his tricks performed to perfection and his creativity earned him 1st place. He was followed by Frenchman Terence Bougdour and Australian Menton Millar. The pressure was, nonetheless, very intense and it was once again demonstrated that the vert remains the most spectacular skateboard discipline for the spectators.

FMX

In 2000, Carey Hart was the first person to backflip a motorcycle. Then in 2006, master of the art Pastrana landed a double. But this weekend, it was easy to understand just how FMX has been revolutionised so much the possibilities are endless. We were treated to a whole festival of flips with amazing variations. Tricks that are forever more technical, and more ballsy.

For the 3rd time in a row, Swiss Mat Rebaud won the title of "Freestyle champ" with an underflip nac-nac, closely followed by Frenchmen Vincent Pagés who landed a Hart Attack flip, and Jérémy Rouanet with a Tsunami flip.

FREESKI

Even if we were disappointed not to see a Swiss freeskier at the starting post, it was soon forgiven and forgotten from the very first runs. To take an example, Swede Henrik Harlaut qualified with a perfect switch 10. During the finals we were especially able to appreciate the incredible style of the riders, which, for this type of event, is a true joy, when you know that the spectators are more into upside down stuff.

Canadian TJ Schiller achieved victory with a magnificent flat spin 5 truckdriver, putting Jon Olsson in 2nd place with a bio 7 and Simon Dumont and his rodeo5 double grab in 3rd place.

SNOWBOARD

Contrary to the skiing, Switzerland was rather well represented for the snowboard part of this event. Indeed the CH team virtually dominated it.

In my humble opinion, Gigi Rüf and Markus Keller were by far the riders with the most style in this session. But even if Gigi, with his angelic face and smooth and laidback style made all the girls blush, it was not enough to seduce the judges. He finished in 8th place. Keller landed a magnificent FS 9 and switch back 7 in the finals, which earned him 4th place, only 12 points from 3rd place and the super finals. Japanese Takato Taniguchi performed a whole range of tricks in his own very "Japanese" style. His FS rodeo and cab9 won him 6th place.

But it was between the two Swiss snowboarders, Stefan Maurer and Reto Kestenholz, with a fault-free record in the pre-qualifications, and Norwegian Andreas Wiig, with switch back 9s, cabs, style and even a shifty. They were respectively the leading trio.

THE ULTIMATE CROSSOVER SESSION

This is the moment everyone looks forward to where the skaters, FMX riders, freeskiers and snowboarders confront one another for 90 minutes and where the spectators have to give their all to elect the "Crossover Champ". This year the snow disciplines dominated the jam as two skiers and one snowboarder became qualified for the super finals.

Obviously the riders were hot. The spectators wanted to see some flip and they certainly got their money's worth. Yankee Simon Dumont carried off the session with a double frontflip superman, while New-Zealand skier, Jossi Wells landed a switch backflip. But it was a real shame that the spectators did not support Mathieu Crépel a bit more and that he did not win a title even though he landed a switch back.... you read it correctly - a switch back 1260... and no - he's not from another planet.

Anyway, Freestyle CH is over for this year, so, see you next year. Just a reminder - some key figures of Freestyle CH:

40,000 spectators, 8 days of setting it up, 3 days of events, 4 days of dismantling it, 480 lorries full of material, 200 tonnes of snow, 200 tonnes of steel structure for the big air, around 15 DJs, more than 85 riders and a budget of 3 million CHF - Did you say Freestyle?

Julie Vergez / Eurosport