We have just caught up with the new Swatch TTR Tour Champion. Read further to get an inside on Piiroinen's season and what he thinks about his fellow Finnish riders, Quarterpipe riding and his highlights of the season.

TTR: Hi Peetu, you must be pumped, tell us about what' 's going through your veins and how you're feeling right now?

Peetu: Yeah, I just won the TTR Ranking, I'm feeling pretty amazing! At the beginning of the season my goals were to end up in the TTR Top5, but then at the first event, the X- Trail in Japan, I did so good and got good points. From there we went to Davos, and then to the European Open and got some more good placements. After Air&Style; I was no.1 and then there was only Shaun who had the possibility to beat me. Shaun was not able to ride here, so I got the win. It's just really awesome! Feeling crazy good! It's one of my biggest achievements ever.

TTR: What does it mean to win the TTR tour...

Peetu: It means a lot. It's the biggest goal in my career, so it means a lot. I don't know...what can I say' It's just amazing.

TTR: Could you talk a little a bit about your Finnish friends like Antti and Risto, both in the TTR Top5, and their overall performances within the TTR Tour?

Peetu: This year there were quite a few Finnish guys in the Top 10. Unfortunately Risto got hurt right here at the US Open. He was third and had good chances to keep that spot. It's a shame. He has had so many injuries, but he has still done well at competitions and had good placements. I'm bummed that it happened to Risto.
However, Antti rose to third place here in the rankings, and that is a really great thing for Antti. He was pretty happy as he heard, before this event he was fifth or something.
Markus did really well placing in the Top 10 for the first time. Markus is more a piperider and he does not ride that much Slopestyle, but has been snowboarding really well this winter. It's really cool that he is in the Top 10.
Unfortunately, Janne Korpi was injured in the early season. He would have had a really good chance to battle for the win as his beginning of the season was very good, and he had a good feel to the riding. Bummer.
The Finns have been riding really super well this season'

TTR: You won the Tour because you are well rounded. You can ride Slopestyle, Halfpipe and you sure can ride Quarterpipe. Can you explain how the Tour involves every aspect of snowboarding and how you came out on top?

Peetu: Yeah, there are a lot of different competitions in the TTR Ranking, there's quarterpipe, slopestyle and halfpipe. Basically, if you want to win the ranking, you have to be able to ride all of them well and do well in all the events. There are quite a few 6Star Quarterpipe comps, so you have to be able to ride those well. For sure you have to be good in everything to make it on the Tour, its not enough that you ride well in Slopestyle or Pipe' ' .The only thing is that this season there has been quite a lot of Quarterpipe events, they are 6Star events, where you can get the most points, I feel that even though they are great for the crowds, that the riders don't really like them as there is such a big risk to get injured. I have, as well as Risto, had all my injuries at these events.
One has to really push hard if you want to win the TTR ranking. I have ridden everything this season and had good results, all of which have been in the Top 5, and that's how I got the TTR victory.

TTR: What was your highlight of the season?

Peetu: For sure my biggest highlight was the X-trail Jam. It was really good, my first time there, and my first TTR contest of the season, and it went really good - second place. And I beat Shaun White in the Big Air, so that was one of my biggest highlights. Japan is always like: people, crowd is crazy, so different from Europe or USA.
Then maybe Air&Style;. It was really nice as well, and of course the US Open because it was my last contest, and here I won the TTR ranking.

TTR: You beat Shaun twice this season? Why is that an accomplishment?

Peetu: I think if you beat Shaun White, you need to ride so good, because he is the guy who is always on the podium. He's been winning so many contests, Olympics last year, TTR Rankings, pretty much everything. This year Shaun didn't do that many contests just the European Open and X-Trail and Intelligent design at Park City and that New York thing. Just 6 TTR contests.
There are few people who can beat Shaun White, for sure one is Kevin, and Torstein he's been killing it in Slopestyle and Chas'

TTR: What do you think of Chas Guldemond?

Peetu: Chas' .Chas is a funny guy' Chas is one of the best riders right now I think, he' (TM)s been killing it in Slopestyle and here at US Open he just won the Global Open series. He is a good rider.

TTR: Your lowest point of the tour? Was it the Arctic Challenge, where you got hurt? Did you feel like you could loose the Tour?

Peetu: Yeah, after Air & Style I took a few weeks break, as there was something wrong with my knee, the joint was sprained. It was from a month ago, but was still hurting a bit. I decided to take a few weeks break. I had to go to the Arctic Challenge not having ridden for a few weeks and I hurt my back there. After the Arctic Challenge I still had a pretty good lead, but Shaun had just 6results so I was pretty sure that as Shaun is always on the podium, I was sure he is gonna win the TTR, as it's the first time since the Arctic Challenge that I had ridden.
But then I found out that Shaun was not riding and basically the ranking...or I mean then I knew I had won it. However, even though Shaun would not have ridden, I was riding pretty well despite injuries, even though I had not ridden before the US Open'
Really, it was pretty exciting, but it did definitely feel relieved when I heard that Shaun was not riding. But accidents happen to us all, like a few times to me this season. And especially to Risto, This is snowboarding.

TTR: How about your competitiveness? We have done some interviews with Kevin and Shaun in the past and they both said that they are riders who rise to the occasion and focus to get that win. Are you like that? Or do you wanna land it for yourself?

Peetu: Yeah, even though I go to so many competitions, is don't feel like I am as competitive as Shaun White and co. where the winning is most important. I want to ride for myself. If you want to ride long and keep your sponsors, you have to succeed at events, but the main point is that you have fun and ride for yourself. So, ride only as long as you are having fun. I think I will be riding for quite some time still, because the fun element from this sport will never run out.

TTR: When you are standing on the top are you thinking about what you could win, like the TTR Tour, the Global Open Series and so on. Do you think about your run in terms of winning? Is the winning aspect driving you to do your run?

Peetu: Before an event you think about what it is possible to win. Here at the US Open I knew before I was dropping, that I had a chance to win the TTR ranking and it did make me nervous, but when you are dropping, you don't think, you just focus on your performance. When you land a run, you generally feel really relieved; if you do well then you can do your next run more relaxed and not feeling any pressure. Then you see if you get a good result or not.

TTR: Explain the feeling of standing on a podium?

It feels good, spraying Champagne, it feel super good. Before the contest I'm really nervous, but when I stomp my runs and get on the podium it feels good.

TTR: You got the trophy 08/09. What are your plans for the upcoming 09/10 season?

Peetu: I will be defending my title. Olympics are coming and we have to do a lot of FIS contests. I think I'm gonna skip Quarterpipe contests as there is a big risk to get hurt. But for sure I'm gonna try to win the TTR ranking next year. It would be nice to win it twice; I'm looking forward to next season. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I know it's gonna be hard as there are so many riders.

I got the title this year, and I'm looking forward to have it next year too. But it's gonna be hard as the level is going up and up. And there are a lot of new riders coming