Battle of the best at final big air World Cup of the season in Tignes
Mar 10, 2025·Freeski Park & Pipe)
With just 10 points separating Austrian skier Matej Svancer and New Zealand’s Luca Harrington, the race for the men’s big air Crystal Globe will come down to the wire in Tignes this week.
Svancer and Harrington are among 86 skiers contesting the sixth and final big air competition of the 2024/25 FIS Freeski World Cup season at French Alps ski resort Tignes.
Big air competition will begin with women’s qualifications on Tuesday 11 March from 9:10 Central European Time (CET), with Italian teenager Flora Tabanelli leading a field of 22 women.
The 17-year-old is a lock to claim the women’s big air Crystal Globe, with more than 100 points separating Tabanelli and her closest rival in the big air World Cup standings, China’s Liu Mengting.
Tabanelli currently sits on 340 points after finishing on the podium at all five of her big air World Cup starts this season. The Italian started off her big air season with second place in Chur (SUI) in October, followed by third in Beijing (CHN) in December. In the first big air contest of the new year, the teenager was second in Klagenfurt (AUT) before an outright victory days later in Kreischberg.
At the most recent big air World Cup in Aspen (USA), Tabanelli was runner-up behind Canadian Megan Oldham, who is not competing in Tignes. More recently, Tabenelli claimed her maiden slopestyle World Cup in Stoneham (CAN) in February.
Tabanelli also won X Games gold in big air at the 2025 edition in Aspen where she was the youngest skier. A year earlier Tabanelli skipped the X Games to focus on the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games where she took gold in big air and slopestyle.
With 500 points across all competitions this season, Tabanelli is also in the driver’s seat to claim the FIS Freeski overall Crystal Globe by week’s end in Tignes.
Liu trails Tabanelli in the big air standings on 216 points and in Tignes will return to big air World Cup competition for the first time since she finished fourth at Kreischberg in January. The 20-year-old started the new year with victory ahead of Tabanelli in Klagenfurt on 4 January before narrowly missing the podium in Kreischberg. In the lead-up to Tignes, Liu contested three slopestyle World Cup events in which she did not progress further than the qualification rounds.
Meanwhile, many eyes will be on local skier Tess Ledeux (FRA) whose three big air starts this World Cup season yielded fifth place in Aspen (USA) in February, victory in Beijing in December, and fifth at the discipline’s season-opener in Chur.
Twenty-three-year-old Ledeux did not compete in Klagenfurt or Kreischberg, but picked up X Games gold in slopestyle and bronze in big air behind silver medallist Grace Henderson (USA) and gold medallist Tabanelli. Henderson will also be in Tignes for her first big air World Cup start of the season.
Other noteworthy performers include Finland’s Anni Karava and German skier Muriel Mohr, who each have two podium finishes thus far this season. Karava was third at Aspen and second at Kreischberg – each time behind Tabanelli – while 18-year-old Mohr was third at Klagenfurt and Chur, also behind Tabanelli on each occasion.
Men’s big air competition will begin on Wednesday 12 March from 9:15 CET. While Svancer and Harrington sit on 340 and 330 points respectively, the men’s field of 63 skiers also features 2025 X Games big air gold medallist and the older half of the Tabanelli brother-sister power duo, 20-year-old Miro Tabanelli.
The older Tabanelli counts only one podium finish among his nine World Cup starts across big air and slopestyle for the 2024/25 season – second in big air in Beijing in December – but his X Games performances shows he is unbeatable on a good day.
Harrington was runner-up behind Miro Tabanelli at the X Games, while Svancer took bronze and Troy Podmilsak (USA) finished just off the podium in fourth. Similar to Miro Tabanelli, Podmilsak’s big air skills have not translated to top-five results this World Cup season, but the reigning World Champion and 2024 X Games champion is clearly capable of great things when the pieces all come together.
Third in the men’s big air World Cup standings is Norway’s Tormod Frostad, who will be keen to return to his early season form in Tignes after topping the field in Beijing in December and claiming second place at the season-opener in Chur. The 22-year-old also finished third at the slopestyle season-opener in Stubai (AUT). Due to a minor injury, Frostad has not competed in a World Cup competition since the Laax Open slopestyle in January.
Frostad is joined by countryman and Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games big air champion Birk Ruud. The 24-year-old’s best big air result this World Cup season was 10th at Aspen in February.
Never one to ignore on the start list, Swiss skier Andri Ragettli will be contesting his sixth big air World Cup of the season after narrowly missing out on a podium finish in Aspen and Klagenfurt, where he finished fourth. The 26-year-old also finished fifth at Kreischberg and Beijing.
The big air finals will take place on Thursday 13 March from 19:00 CET.
BIG AIR FACTS & FIGURES
Last season’s women’s Crystal Globe winner Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) holds the all-time big air World Cup record, with nine wins from 13 podium finishes.
Birk Ruud (NOR) leads the men’s big air World Cup podiums with 12, including six wins.
QUICK LINKS
Tignes Big Air World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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