Anna Gasser to sit out Winter Games

Anna Gasser, arguably the most successful snowboarder of the past season, has announced that she won't enter the first slopestyle competition of the 2017-18 FIS Snowboard World Cup season which is slated to take place in Cardrona Alpine Ski Resort on Sunday, September 3 (qualifiers) and Monday, September 4 (finals) as part of the Audi quattro Winter Games NZ.

The 26-year-old Carinthian had bruised her left tibial plateau in a training accident a few weeks ago during an indoor training session in Japan and therefore has decided to take a more relaxed start to the Olympic winter.

“As I don't have to hunt for my Olympic spot, it's better for me to concentrate on the training here in Australia. I don't want to enter a World Cup event when I'm not at 100%. But I'm on a very good way to catch up the training deficit I still have due to my injury,” the 2017 Big Air World Champion said.