Back-to-back wins for Luca Harrington as teenager Flora Tabanelli claims first big air victory
Jan 10, 2025·Freeski Park & Pipe
New Zealand skier Luca Harrington is one step closer to a big air Crystal Globe after winning his second consecutive World Cup event of the season in Austria.
The 20-year-old on Friday won the men’s event at Big Air Kreischberg with a total of 187.75 points - locking down one of the highest Big Air World Cup scores of all-time and finishing the competition nearly 10 points clear of his closest competitor.
Harrington took an early lead after a massive first run score of 95.75 for what has become his signature trick - a switch right triple 1620 esco. He then followed that up with a second run score of 92.00 for his right triple cork 1800 safety.
Austria’s own Matej Svancer thrilled the Kreischberg crowd with a second place finish on his two-run score of 178.75, using his final run of the evening to land a left nosebutter triple 1620 safety to move 0.25 points ahead of third-placed Leo Landroe (NOR) and his score of 178.50.
Harrington’s victory comes a week after he claimed his first World Cup victory at the Big Air Klagenfurt, where he impressed judges with a high-scoring first run of 94.80, also for a switch right triple 1620 esco.
Last week’s win also helped Harrington make history as the first New Zealander to stand atop a big air World Cup podium and just the second to earn a World Cup big air top-3.
The 20-year-old said competing in the 2024/25 FIS Freeski World Cup season has helped him take his skiing and his scores to new heights.
Harrington now leads the men’s Big Air World Cup standings, ahead of Svancer and Norway’s Tormod Frostad in third place. Frostad came into Kreischberg atop the discipline standings but finished in eighth place in the final after falling in his second and third runs.
It was a memorable podium for a multitude of reasons on the women’s side, led by 17-year-old Flora Tabanelli (ITA) who took the first World Cup victory of her career with a combined score of 175.50 points.
With multiple Junior World Championships and Youth Olympic Games gold medals to her credit, Tabanelli is further establishing herself as a medal threat for her home Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games with every performance.
On Friday the judges awarded Tabanelli 93.25 for her first run featuring a left double cork 1440 safety, which she followed up with a third run score of 82.25 for a switch left misty 1080 mute.
Runner-up honours went to Finland’s Anni Karava in a historic performance, as the 24-year-old became the first Finnish woman to earn a World Cup podium in FIS Freeski history.
Karava’s score of 173.50 put her just ahead of the second Austrian podium finisher of the night as 24-year-old Lara Wolf earned the second World Cup podium of her career in a comeback nearly two years after she announced her retirement from the tour.
“I’m so happy also for the skiing of the other girls because it was an amazing night thanks to everyone else.”
Friday’s result was Tabanelli’s fourth podium finish of the season and her sixth in just a season and half on the World Cup tour. She now leads the Big Air World Cup standings with 320 points after four out of six events on the 2024/25 Big Air World Cup calendar. On top of that, the teenager now leads the overall FIS Freeski Park & Pipe World Cup standings ahead of Eileen Gu (CHN).
Liu Mengting (CHN) finished fourth on Friday after previously winning the women’s event at Big Air Klagenfurt ahead of Tabanelli last week.
Last season’s overall Crystal Globe winner Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) did not qualify for the women’s final, while fellow Swiss skier Sarah Hoefflin finished fifth after she was unable to match her first run score of 90.75.
The next big air event on the FIS Freeski World Cup calendar will take place in Aspen between 4 and 6 February 2025.
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