Big air World Cup wraps up in Quebec City
Mar 17, 2019·Freeski Park & Pipe
The 2018/19 FIS Freeski big air World Cup season ended with a bang on Saturday afternoon in Quebec City (CAN), where a 40m tall jump crafted out of snow and scaffold in the heart of the city played venue for a dramatic freeski showdown. At the end of the day a huge crowd on hand was treated to victories by Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud and Austria’s Lukas Muellauer, while Elena Gaskell (CAN) and Andri Ragettli (SUI) took the big air crystal globes.
In the ladies’ event Mathilde Gremaud reached for her second of back-to-back victories of the North American tour after coming on top of the slopestyle World Cup event last week at Mammoth Mountain. On Saturday the Swiss skier dominated the ladies’ competition in Quebec City with her right rodeo 900 safety and a switch left cork 720 mute for a combined scored of 178.00 points.
“It’s pretty nice to wrap up those last two weeks with another win,” said Gremaud, “Everything turned out exactly the way I was hoping for so I’m really, really happy.”
The second place on the day went to Kea Kuehnel (GER), who was celebrating her 28th birthday on Saturday. The German rider grabbed her second podium of the 2018/19 season with a right bio 720 safety and a left cork 720 double tail for a total score of 160.50 points.
Canada’s own Elena Gaskell rounded out the ladies’ podium in third with 158.00 points for her left 900 tail and a switch left 900 mute. With her third place finish on the day Gaskell also wrapped up the big air World Cup season on top of the ranking, winning the big air title and the crystal globe with 210 points after three competitions in 2018/19.
“If you told me at the beginning of the season that I was going to win the crystal globe, I would not believe it,” said Gaskell, “I’m just out of words right now, but I’m really happy to win it in my home country, while also landing on the podium in front of this amazing crowd in Quebec.”
Gremaud finished the big air World Cup season just behind Gaskell in second with 200 points, while Kuehnel came in third with 140 points.
Moving over to the men’s side Lukas Muellauer came with a surprise win to upset all the favourites in Quebec City and snagging his career’s first World Cup podium. Still, Muellauer’s victory on Saturday was well deserved as the Austrian rider perfectly stomped both of his tricks, including a left double 1620 trailing blunt and a switch left double 1440 nose mute for a high-score of 179.75 points.
“It’s like my best day ever,” said Muellauer, “I was skiing as always but I have to admit that I had a really good day and I was able to land my tricks and it turned out to be just enough for the first place. It’s amazing.”
Finishing behind Muellauer in second was the 2019 big air world champion Fabian Boesch (SUI) with his teammate Andri Ragettli rounding out the men’s podium in third. Boesch received a score of 172.75 points for his left double 1620 lead tail and a right triple 1620 safety, while Ragettli earned 171.50 points for a left triple 1440 nose mute and a switch left double misty 1080 double mute.
Coming back to competing from a knee injury he sustained at the X Games earlier in the season, not only did Ragettli managed to get back on the World Cup podium in Quebec City, but he also secured his career’s third FIS Freeski crystal globe. Ragettli gathered 220 points in three contests, taking victory in Cardrona and scoring two third places in Modena and now in Quebec City.
Ragettli’s two other FIS Freeski titles came in slopestyle in 2016 and 2018.
“Winning the World Cup crystal globe for the third time is just insane, and especially because I injured my knee 7 weeks ago and I was not really expecting to come and compete here,” said Ragettli, “So being back on the podium and winning the title is a great feeling and now I’m just hungry for more. I'm looking forward to Silvaplana in two weeks time.”
Birk Ruud finished the big air World Cup season in the second place with 172 points, while Boesch jumped into third spot with 130 points, following his second place performance in Canada.
The FIS Freeski World Cup now moves to Europe, with the final competition of the season slated to go down on the slopestyle course in Silvaplana (SUI) on March 29-30.
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