Gremaud and Hall coming in hot to Copper Mountain freeski big air
Dec 14, 2023·Freeski Park & Pipe
After one of the heaviest snowboard big air World Cup qualification sessions we’ve ever seen took to the big booter yesterday, the always-epic annual convergence of the snowsports world at Copper Mountain continues today with Visa Big Air freeski qualifications, where the women will lead things off at 9:30 MT, followed by men’s heat one at 11:05 and men’s heat two at 13:05. Finals are then scheduled for Saturday, beginning at 10:00.
GREMAUD LOOKING TO CONTINUE PERFECT START INTO HOLIDAY BREAK
With the Big Air Chur and the Beijing big air World Cups already in the books this season, it’s Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland way out in front of the World Cup standings after taking the W in both those competitions.
Throw in a win at the Stubai slopestyle World Cup three weeks ago (and the fact that she finished in second place here last season), and you’ve got a skier in Gremaud who is absolutely at the top of her game right now and more than capable of making it a perfect four-for-four in World Cup competitions before the holiday break.
Gremaud’s toughest test will likely come in the form of Tess Ledeux of France, who is coming off a disappointing eighth place finish in Beijing after qualifying in top spot but failing to put down her run in finals. Ledeux also has runner-up finished behind Gremaud at both the Big Air Chur and in Stubai, so you can bet she’ll be extra motivated to best her fellow 23-year-old in the Copper competition this week.
Gremaud was joined on the Beijing podium by Kirsty Muir (GBR) and World Cup rookie Flora Tabanelli (ITA), and both of those two should very much be in the podium competition this week.
Muir has by now firmly established herself as one of the best and most consistent freeskiers in the world, making finals at every World Cup since the start of the 2021/22 season and bagging a couple of second-place finishes in the process. Tabanelli, meanwhile, has used the momentum from her Junior World Championships big air gold won in September to transition seamlessly to establishing herself as a contender on the World Cup circuit.
Bakuriani 2023 big air World Championships silver medallist Sandra Eie, Rell Harwood of the host US squad, and Giulia Tanno are a few of the other names to watch out for in the women’s competition this week.
HOME SOIL HALL THE MAN TO BEAT
Over on the men’s side of things it’s tough to know where exactly to begin with a start list that includes essentially every heavy hitter that there is in competitive freeskiing, so we’ll start at the top where the USA’s over Alex Hall sits tied for the big air World Cup lead after earning an impressive win in Beijing. Hall’s blend of technical wizardry and unmistakably unique style puts him in an exalted tier of near-universal respect, with anonymous online commenters and World Cup judges alike able to appreciate what he brings to the table.
And it doesn’t stop there for the U.S. team, with reigning big air World Champion Troy Podmilsak and five-time World Cup podium man Mac Forehand also more than likely to be in the mix come finals time on Saturday.
One man that everyone is going to have to watch out for this week is Birk Ruud of Norway, as Copper will be the first competition for the 23-year-old since his streak of 12-straight FIS podiums (World Cup + World Championships) was broken in Stubai. Being outside of the top-3 is not a place that Birk Ruud likes to be, and with the big jump here in Copper likely to play into his many strengths, we expect the reigning Beijing 2022 Olympic big air gold medallist and last season’s Copper winner to be tough to beat.
As it has been for the last decade, you can’t write a preview for a big air (or slopestyle) World Cup without mentioning Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli, who comes into Copper fresh off a third place at the Beijing World Cup - his first big air World Cup podium in four years. While slopestyle is where Ragettli has earned the majority of his 28 World Cup podiums, his Beijing performance shows he’s still got plenty to give in the big jump department.
Ahead of Ragettli in Beijing was Canada’s Edouard Therriault, the Aspen 2021 big air World Championships silver medallist. One of the most effortlessly progressive freeskiers in the game, count on Therriault to bring something special this week.
Speaking of special, freeski savant Matej Svancer of Austria is on hand and ready to get weird, per usual. Svancer has been dropping all manner of mind-benders so far this season - Tokyo-drifting, bring-backing, and buttering in-to and out-of features all over the place. Svancer is a one-man highlight reel, and the judges have been loving it. Watch this space.
Canada’s coming in hot with big air World Cup co-leader Dylan Deschamps, Stubai slopestyle winner Evan McEachran and Max Moffatt all on hand, while last season’s Copper Mountain second and third place finishers Timothe Sivignon (FRA) and Sebastian Schjerve (NOR), Daniel Bacher of Austria, and Luca Harrington (NZL) are a few of the others in a long list of names to watch out for on the men’s side here at Copper Mountain.
Stay tuned to our social media channels for livestream and where-to-watch info later on today or Friday.
QUICK LINKS
Copper Mountain data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
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