The Vienna Air King is an international dirt jump competition, which is held every April and functions as the annual bike season kick off event in Europe. 2010 was its 5th anniversary, again happening in conjunction with the ARGUS Bike Festival – Austria’s biggest bike event. It’s not only the dirt jump contest that attracts overall about 100.000 visitors each year. A big bike exhibition area featuring the newest trends in the cycling industry is also gaining great attention each year.
Over 50 riders from 14 countries celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Vienna Air King. This year’s edition was also the kick off event for the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour. Sam Pilgrim (GBR/1st place) had a strong battle with last year’s winner Martin Soderstrom who finished in second place. The youngster John Alm Hogman came in third place, Jamie Goldman got fourth, and the Austrian local Andi Brewi fifth. The masses of spectators cheered for the riders in front of the historic city hall and got a whole bunch of sick tricks like 360 double whips, flip combos at the step down, flairs, super flips, or flipwhips in return. But the sickest trick was the cork 720 from Andi Wittmann (GER) in the separate Panasonic-Best-Trick-Competition on Sunday. Overall 10,000 Euros prize money and a hard rocking afterparty made the Vienna Air King a perfect start into the contest season for riders and fans.
