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.

Mountainbike rider from many different countries celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Vienna Air King. This year’s edition is again also the kick off event for the Freeride Mountain Bike (FMB) World Tour. Sam Pilgrim (GBR/1st place 2010) had a strong battle with the winner of 2009 Martin Soderstrom (SWE) who finished in second place. 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. This year you can again look forward to see the top riders in the Mountainbike freeride sport batteling for the title Vienna Air King 2011.