At the end of two weeks of blood, sweat and tears, Team Canada has emerged victorious tonight at the Jon Olsson Super Sessions video awards. Team Canada beat out six other teams in a ski and film competition to win the 3rd annual JOSS.

A packed MIx Megapol Arena in Åre, Sweden was the spot on April 17th. Stuffed full of admiring kids, cheering girls, curious adults and serious fans, the arena was brimming with excitement as each team was introduced and brought on stage. After all the intros were through, the hosts for the night, Colby West and Isabella Löwengrip [a Swedish personality] got things started. Edits were played, smaller awards were given and little behind the scenes videos were enjoyed. Videos highlighting Peter Sidebo and his organizational role at JOSS and David Ny and his feature building prowess were added touches this year.

As far as the individual awards, the winners were as follows:
-Best Crash – Gus Kenworthy for his double 1260 bail.
-Best Tech Trick – Russ Henshaw for his right double 1260.
-Best Urban – Gus Kenworthy – Trap rail w/ a gap, front swap, pretzel 270.
-Best Style – Niklas Ericsson with his no grab, rightside cork 540.
-People Choice – Team America voted the crowd’s favorite.

And then the judges were brought on stage. Raf Regazzoni [sp] as the technical judge, pro snowboarder Hampus Mossesson as the style judge, PK Hunder as the urban judge [in Nick Martini’s stead] and Eric Iberg as the film judge. Each gave their scores, 1 point for 3rd place, 2 points for 2nd place and 3 points for 1st place in each of the four individual categories. The fifth category, overall, was worth twice as many points and all the judges collaborated to come up with the rankings.

And when the dust had settled, there was actually a 3-way tie for first. Team NS, Team Norway and Team Canada all had 9 points, but as Iberg explained the most important category was filmmaking, which Team Canada placed first in, thus giving them the win.

“It feels great. We basically went out and our goal was to have as much fun skiing and to capture that. We honesty had no intention of trying to come first. The personalities behind our edit [TJ Schiller, Justin Dorey, Ian Cosco], they are funny people and we wanted to capture that; what they do before, after and during skiing. I believe the judges wanted to make a point that skiing is fun and try not to be too serious. With that said the edits that were composed were serious and there was some absolutely next level stuff. I can’t wait for the world wide web to see what everyone made.” – Darren Rayner, filmmaker for Team Canada.

Team Canda’s video was full of humor, mild nudity, a nice bit of ski action, as it featured the three best friends [Schiller, Cosco, Dorey] on their two week JOSS adventure. One of the longer videos, the Canada edit displayed masterful camera-work and editing, which in unison, created an 8-minute piece of filmmaking that was easily the best edited. It also featured Ian Cosco performing the Macarena dance while sliding the double-box, something no other team could compete with. The only thought would be that Canada had the least amount of skiing out of all seven edits, creating more of a lifestyle piece.

Team America was heavily favored going into the night. With Simon Dumont, Tom Wallisch and rookie Alex Schlopy, anything was possible. Jam packed with a ton of stylish and tech jump shots and well crafted urban, the American’s put on a show. Set to an upbeat Swedish hip hop track, the edit was a perfect blend of action and filler. As an added humor bonus, their intro goofing on Alex Schlopy’s rookie status was a delight to all.

Team Newschooler’s video was full of hard hitting urban, set to an electronic track. With three rookie JOSS competitors, Gus Kenworthy, LJ Strenio and Matt Walker video displayed a ton of hunger and gritty urban. With solid performances from all parties involved, Team NS put on a show.

Team Norway, which was plagued by injury just before the contest, put in a solid effort. Any team anchored by Andreas HÃ¥tveit will be a threat and with rookies Aleksander Aurdal and Sig Tveit, the video has a nice blend of three separate styles. Team Norway traveled far and wide to hit some new urban features outside of Ã…re (which was later forbidden in the contest) which gave their video some life that others didn’t. With shots on all the jump features, Norway held it down as the defending champions of JOSS.

Team Down Under’s edit, set to a blazing electronic track, showcased some a blend of Russ Henshaw’s technical knowledge and Jossi Well’s silky smooth style. Doubles here, doubles there, Russ proved himself to be one of the premier jumpers in the world today. Jossi, who was plagued a bit by injury, dropped bombs on the jump and hit one of the cooler urban features in all of the contest. With some added shots by rookie Danu Sherpa and a timelapse of the Northern Lights display here in Ã…re, the Aussies and Kiwis managed an entertaining and absorbing edit.

Team Sweden came into the contest with home field advantage and it showed through in their urban shots. Henrik Harlaut and Niklas Ericsson, with cameos by Oscar Scherlin brought the heat in the streets of Sweden. And ending their segment with an epic and dramatic instrumental beat over their heli footage on the Step Up was a commanding way to end the edit.

Team Europe was helmed by Jacob Wester, Elias Ambuhl and Oscar Harlaut. Somewhat of a dark horse coming in, the team put in double after double, showcasing the jump talents of Wester and Ambuhl. Mix in some heli footage from an urban feature and other technical urban features and Team Europe had themselves a formidable edit.

But as the judged had decided, the emphasis was put more on the filmmaking than the skiing and the Canadian’s edit rose above the rest. And thus lays to rest yet another Jon Olsson Super Sessions from Ã…re, Sweden.