New year, new venue as freeski stars kick off 2025 with Big Air Klagenfurt
Jan 02, 2025·Freeski Park & Pipe)
The FIS Freeski World Cup season is starting the new year with a new big air venue in Klagenfurt, Austria, where Tormod Frostad (NOR) and Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) will look to continue their hot starts to the Big Air World Cup season in a stadium-sized showdown.
Twenty-two-year-old Frostad sits atop the men’s Big Air World Cup standings ahead of the third big air competition of the 2024/25 season, with qualifications beginning on Friday and finals on Saturday in Klagenfurt’s Woerthersee Stadium.
Frostad leads the way into Klagenfurt for the men after winning the final big air competition of 2024 at Beijing in December. The win marked Frostad’s first World Cup victory since joining the World Cup circuit in 2018.
Frostad had a strong start to the big air 2024/25 season with second place at Big Air Chur in October, and followed up his Chur performance with third place in slopestyle at Stubai, Austria in November.
While he leads the big air World Cup standings, Frostad is currently ranked second in the overall FIS Freeski Park & Pipe standings behind halfpipe specialist Alex Ferreira (USA).
Trailing Frostad in the big air standings is Canada’s Dylan Deschamps, who finished third in both Chur and Beijing, and the explosive 22-year-old is a strong bet for another top-3 finish in Klagenfurt.
Italy’s Miro Tabanelli will also be eyeing a podium finish after topping the qualifications and then ending up a close second in Beijing behind Frostad. After a shaky slopestyle performance in Stubai, where he finished 46th, Tabanelli’s Beijing performance appears to have the 20-year-old big air phenom back on track.
Meanwhile, home advantage could be key for Austrian skier Matej Svancer, who finished in 21st place in Beijing and eighth in Stubai after opening his World Cup season with victory at Big Air Chur in October. Svancer is currently fourth in the big air standings after two events.
Swiss skier Andri Ragettli is another one to watch in men’s big air. The 26-year-old finished just outside the podium in Beijing in fifth place after he was the slopestyle runner-up in Stubai, where he topped qualifications.
In women’s big air, Switzerland's Mathilde Gremaud remains the woman to beat despite finishing fourth in Beijing in December.
Gremaud, who is last season's Crystal Globe winner, started the 2024/25 World Cup season with a win in Chur and second place in slopestyle in Stubai, but fell short in Beijing behind event winner Tess Ledeux (FRA), runner-up Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) and third-placed Flora Tabanelli (ITA).
However, while she missed the podium there in Beijing, Gremaud still managed to break new ground for freeskiing in the process, becoming the first woman to land a nose butter double cork 1260 in a thrilling performance.
Ledeux’s win in Beijing marked her 16th World Cup victory, but the French skier will not be competing at Big Air Klagenfurt. Her absence will be an opportunity for the likes of Anni Karava (FIN) and Chinese skiers Liu Mengting and Yang Ruyi to move into the top three after they finished in fifth, sixth and seventh place respectively in Beijing.
Like her older brother Miro Tabanelli, 17-year-old Flora Tabanelli is going into Big Air Klagenfurt hoping to narrow the FIS points gap. The same goes for Hoefflin, whose 2024/25 season thus far includes runner-up honours in big air in December and third place in slopestyle in November.
The women’s field of 15 also includes German teenager Muriel Mohr, who secured her first World Cup podium in Chur with third place behind event winner Gremaud and runner-up Flora Tabanelli.
Big Air Klagenfurt will be held in Wörthersse Stadium and is the only big air stadium event of the season.
Competition will begin on Friday with the women’s qualifications at 17:00 Central European Time (CET), with the men’s qualifications and finals on Saturday.
The top eight women and top 10 men from qualifications will progress to the finals beginning at 16:30 CET on Saturday. After the finals there will be live performances from German rapper Finch and Italian electronic DJ Gabry Ponte.
BIG AIR FACTS & FIGURES
Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) has won nine big air World Cup events out of a total of 13 podium finishes.
Tess Ledeux (FRA) has 16 FIS Freeski World Cup wins: 12 in slopestyle, four in big air.
Of the top 10 men on the current big air World Cup rankings, only Andri Ragettli (SUI) has a big air Crystal Globe to his credit.
QUICK LINKS
Big Air Klagenfurt World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
Photos (coming soon)
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