Cologne/Germany, June 18th 2011 – German wonderboy Nico von Lerchenfeld wins in Cologne, upsetting fellow Liquid Force rider Shawn Watson and Keith Lidberg, who got second and third place. Von Lerchenfeld convinced the judges with two runs close to perfection. His first run included a snowboard inspired combo on the first gap, a huge melon air out of the quarterpipe and a switch toeside frontside 900 to top it off. When he hit his own signature obstacle in his second run, he did a perfectly executed backside 270 to switch noseslide and secured the win in this years OʼNeill Wake The Line edition. Shawn Watson proved to be the most consistent rider, laying down top level runs all evening including his signature move, an olé toeside 540. Third place went to Keith Lidberg, who showed excellent riding all evening but couldnʼt maintain the same consistency as his opponents.
For the wakeskating part, 13 year old Daniel Grant from Thailand amazed everyone when he first hit the course. He quickly turned from a little Asian kid into an extremely consistent wakeskating machine, putting pressure on big names such as Nick Taylor (USA) and Leo Labadens (FRA). In his final run, Grant exploded and laid down the best line of the day, topping it off with a clean heelside frontside 540. Second place went to last years winner Jan Kissmann from Germany, who got followed by Andy Kolb, also from Germany.