Gasser and McMorris victorious at Air + Style Beijing

Anna Gasser (AUT) and Mark McMorris (CAN) have earned an historic win triumphing in the Infinite 2017 Air + Style Beijing which was staged in the Worker's Stadium today.

It was the first time ever that the Asian offshore of the well-respected event series was sanctioned as FIS Snowboard World Cup, and the first time women did enter the contest.

And while it also was the first time that this iconic comp took place in the second biggest arena of the Chinese capital, the ramp was as good as always enabling the top 6 women and top 10 men from the qualifiers to step up their game in the finals which featured a three run, best two different jumps count format as usual.

With the girls first to drop under the lights all eyes were on best qualifier Anna Gasser as the question was if the reigning World Champion would be able to go all in after bruising her right ankle during Thursday's training session.

In order to give the foot a rest, she had already sat out yesterday's second qualifier round, and her strategy paid off.

The 26-year-old winner of the season's Big Air opener in Milan two weeks ago kept the momentum on the massive scaffolding ramp and dominated the second stop of the World Cup tour in style.

Stomping her huge and well-executed signature trick, the cab double cork 900 mute and a big frontside 720 lien she not only became the first woman ever to stand atop the Air + Style Beijing podium but also secured her career's seventh win in 15 starts (six out of seven in big air) with a total score of 175.50.

“Of course there was still some pain in my foot but I was able to block it out. Having two wins in a row under my belt this season already is nice, but I won't lean back now. I will keep on working on new tricks”, she said.

A smart approach as her competitors are not idle at all.

2015 Slopestyle World Champion Miyabi Onitsuka (JPN; 155.75) as well as Enni Rukajarvi (FIN; 154.00) rounded out the podium as second and third, respectively, after their third attempts failed to bump off Gasser from the top spot.

Both had tried to up the ante by going for a backside double cork 1080 (Onitsuka) and a cab 1080 (Rukajarvi) but missed a clean landing.

However, both therefore underlined that women's snowboarding keeps on progressing rapidly with the Olympic debut of Big Air just around the corner.

From zero to hero once again

The men's event saw an emotional and quite insane comeback of 2014 Olympic Slopestyle Bronze medallist Mark McMorris.

Only eight months after suffering life threatening injuries in a backcountry crash when he had broken his pelvis, jaw, some ribs and his left arm, the 24-year-old underlined that he has some mad recovery skills only topped by Marvel's very own Wolverine.

The comeback kid raised on the flatlands of Saskatchewan, Canada, dropped the hammer in the Worker's Stadium landing a frontside triple cork 1440 mute and a jaw dropping backside triple cork 1440 indy – the best trick of the night – for a total score of 187.00.

But although the highly-decorated rider had just won one of the biggest events in the snowboard scene, his main thoughts were way more down to earth than maybe expected:

“I think after my big injury, the thing I noticed most is that I really appreciate snowboarding more than I ever have. I am so happy to do this.“

Best qualifier Tiarn Collins (NZL; 183.75) and Torgeir Bergrem (NOR; 179.75) finished as second and third, respectively, in a men's final by stomping a sweet backside 1440 mute and cab 1440 double nose grab (Collins) as well as a cab double cork 1440 mute and a super clean backside 1620 mute.

The Big Air World Cup season will continue next week with the second ever ARAG Big Air Festival being staged in the SparkassenPark Moenchengladbach, Germany on December 2nd.