Japanese Riders Dominate FIS Snowboard World Cup Big Air 24-25 Season Opener

Japan’s Mari Fukada and Taiga Hasegawa took the first wins of the FIS Snowboard World Cup big air season at Big Air Chur 2024 on Saturday.

Competitors began their jumps on an in-run provided by surface manufacturer JF-DrySki before landing on snow brought in for the event.

In the women’s event Fukada secured Japan's first victory of the evening in front of the massive Big Air Chur crowd with a total score of 181.50 after putting down the highest-scoring run of the evening in her second attempt.

Fukada was trailing last season’s big air crystal globe winner Mia Brookes (GBR) after the first run, in which Brookes received a score of 89.75 compared to Fukada’s 87.50.

In the second run, however, Fukada scored 94.00 thanks to a switch backside 1260 - a trick which she became just the second woman in World Cup competition history to land.

“It was awesome, I was so stoked to do the run I wanted,” Fukada said.

Compatriot Reira Iwabuchi claimed second place behind Fukada with a score of 167.50. This is the second time Iwabuchi was runner-up at Big Air Chur after previously finishing second in 2023.

Canada’s Laurie Blouin finished in third place with 163.00 for her 13th World Cup podium.

In the men’s event, Taiga Hasegawa took the win after scoring 89.75 in his third run, adding to his first-run score of 87.50 for a total of 177.25.

“I was thinking if I stomped, I would win,” he said.

The 18-year-old said Saturday’s result follows a difficult period of recovery.

“I broke my ankle four years ago and I got very disheartened.”

The reigning 2023 big air World Champion, Hasegawa once again showed that disheartenment is long in the past, putting down two massive runs with a cab 1800 Weddle in run one, followed by a 1800 frontside grab in his final attempt.

New Zealand’s Rocco Jamieson was runner-up with a score of 163.50, followed by Romain Allemand (FRA) in third place with 158.00.

Jamieson impressed the judges and crowd alike with a signature Rubix flip - a tough-to-explain mindbender which has never been done in competition before.

Allemand posted the highest-scoring men’s run of the evening with 91.50 with his first run frontside 1800 bloody Dracula, before losing the lead in the second run.

Saturday evening’s finals were missing some of the discipline’s biggest names after two-time Olympic Winter Games big air gold medallist Anna Gasser (AUT) did not advance past the qualification round following two unfortunate runs.

USA’s Chris Corning, who has 18 World Cup podium finishes to his name, also did not make it past the qualification round.

Saturday’s competition wraps up the first event of the 2024/25 FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Cup season for big air.

The next snowboard big air World Cup will begin in Beijing on 30 November 2024.