Ledeux and Svancer shine brightest in thrilling season-opener at the Big Air Chur
Oct 22, 2021·Freeski Park & Pipe
CHUR (SUI) - The 2021/22 FIS Freeski World Cup opened in the most epic way imaginable on Friday night in Switzerland, where Tess Ledeux (FRA) and Matej Svancer (AUT) stepped up and threw down heavy in front of a massive crowd at the Big Air Chur festival to walk away with the first victorious of the season.
Originally slated to be a best-two-of-three jump finals, the format was adjusted after heavy winds delayed proceedings on Friday afternoon. While it looked for a while like the competition may be cancelled, the winds soon died down and finals were able to get underway about two hours after originally scheduled, in a best-of-two format. No drama was lost however, as the format forced the finalists into giving everything they had into their single best trick as they battled for the win.
INCREDIBLE LEDEUX EARNS FIRST CAREER BIG AIR WORLD CUP WIN
Last season’s double crystal globe winner in slopestyle and freeski overall, Ledeux proved again that she’s perhaps the best big-moment freeskier in the game on the women’s side, dropping in for her second attempt of the evening and stomping a huge left double cork 1260 mute in front of the thousands-strong Chur crowd for a score of 95.25 and top spot.
“I’m so happy to be back on top of the podium,” Ledeux said of her victory, which was the eighth World Cup win of her career but her first in big air. “The level of the women has gone up a lot, so it’s nice to see this level of skiing. This gives me more confidence, to win the first World Cup of the season, but we’ll see how it goes from here. This one is for my dad.”
Ledeux’s second jump knocked Swiss fan-favourite Sarah Hoefflin off of top spot, where she had been sitting after stomping a switch right dub 1080 mute that earned her a score of 93.25. Hoefflin would finish in second place for her 11th career World Cup podium and the lone top-3 result of the evening for the host squad.
“This is such a cool event,” said Hoefflin from the finish area, “To be here in Switzerland on home turf in front of so many people, it means so much for me to be able to show the sport to people like this.
“When I landed my second hit it was just like, wow, I can’t even explain how happy I was. I’m so proud to ski with these awesome girls and to see the level we saw today. We’re really showing the world that we can really push ourselves. There’s so much more to come.”
Third place, meanwhile, went to Canada’s Elena Gaskell, whose switch left bio 1080 mute got her a score of 91.00 for the fourth World Cup podium of her career.
SVANCER ALMOST PERFECT WITH FINAL HIT 99.00 FOR VICTORY
Over on the men’s side of things we witnessed a finale the likes of which you usually only see in the movies, with 17-year-old Matej Svancer dropping in as the last skier of the Big Air Chur competition and stomping a nosebutter double cork 1800 safety for a near-perfect score of 99.00 points and the first World Cup victory of his career.
It could not have been a better start to the season and the next phase of his career for Svancer, who just switched national teams from the Czech Republic (where he was born) to Austria (where he has lived most of his life).
It also couldn’t have been a better ending to an epic Big Air Chur freeski competition, where the vibe was as high as you could have imaged at the first World Cup with fans in attendance in almost two years.
“I cannot believe it,” a wide-eyed Svancer said after the scores had come in, “It feels like a dream. I still don’t get it. It felt so crazy and I was just so hyped to land the trick. Just the feeling and the hype of landing that trick was unbelievable, and to win is just crazy.”
Svancer’s 99.00 denied Teal Harle (CAN) what could have been the first big air World Cup victory of his career, as the Canadian landed a truly mind-boggling left side triple 1260 bring-back safety that had earned him a seemingly unbeatable score of 98.50 just a few runs earlier.
“It was awesome riding in front of a crowd again,” said Harle, “I love that energy when you can hear them when you’re about to drop in, that scream, it just pumps you up and it’s so fun.”
“My trick, I mean…long story short, a few years ago I learned a double version because I saw a video of a friend of a friend do it by accident. I saw that and I thought, ‘I wonder if I can do that on purpose?’ and I learned it. Finally in the off-season this year I decided to make it into a triple cork, and it worked out.”
Third place on the day went to 2019/20 big air crystal globe winner Birk Ruud, whose signature left double bio 1800 mute gave him a score of 97.25 - high enough to win most big air competitions, but just not quite there on an evening when the level of skiing was simply through the roof throughout the finals.
An honourable mention goes out to David Zehentner (GER), who finished just off the podium in fourth place while competing in his first-ever World Cup final.
Next up for the FIS Freeski World Cup we’ll be heading to Austria for slopestyle action at the Stubai Zoo from November 19-20.
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