History made at Kreischberg big air World Cup finals
Jan 17, 2023·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The 2022/23 big air World Cup season ended in truly remarkable fashion on Saturday night in Kreischberg, where Anna Gasser (AUT) and Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) took the respective women’s and men’s victories, and Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) and Valentino Guseli (AUS) walked away as this season’s big air crystal globe winners.
GASSER WINS ON HOME SOIL AND IWABUCHI GETS GLOBE IN NEXT-LEVEL WOMEN’S FINAL
Gasser’s win was her first on home soil in six years, and came on an evening when women’s snowboarding reached a new height of progression, highlighted by Zoi Sadwoski-Synnott landing a switch backside 1260, and 15-year-old Mia Brookes stomping a flat-spin cab 1260 - the first time either trick has been stomped in women’s competition.
Gasser obviously brought her A-game as well, stomping the cab double cork 1260 melon that she first debuted in her gold medal-winning performance at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games last season, along with a frontside double cork 1080 Japan that is quickly becoming her new signature trick.
Add it all up and you’ve got a score of 179.75 for the winner, her 11th career World Cup victory, and a whole lot of happy Anna Gasser fans on hand in Kreischberg and around the world.
“I feel like especially at home you want to do good, because there’s so many people here to support me,” Gasser said after posing for what seemed like a thousand selfies with her fans, “My family was here watching and so many people supporting me and that makes this win so special for me. And with the level of competition tonight being super, super high, for sure this is one of the most beautiful wins of my career.”
Adding a backside 1080 weddle grab to her switch backside 1260 weddle, Sadowski-Synnott would finish just back of Gasser with a two-jump score of 176.50, earning herself her seventh career World Cup podium in her first competition back since she also finished second behind Gasser at the Beijing 2022 big air event.
Finally, completing the repeat of the Beijing 2022 Olympic big air podium was Japan’s Kokomo Murase, who put down her own set of mind-blowing tricks with a backside 1260 nose grab and a frontside 1080 truck driver.
While Murase’s 174.50 points would be enough to get her on the podium in third place, those two points back of Sadowski-Synnott would end up having big consequences for Murase, as she would fall just short in her bed for a third career crystal globe.
Instead, it would be Murase’s teammate Iwabuchi just able to hold on to the yellow leader’s bib through to the end, as she finished eighth place on the day to remain 10 points ahead of Murase and claim the women’s big air globe.
“I was so nervous this week,” said Iwabuchi, whose globe win was the third of her big air career, “Everybody was riding at such a high level and I knew Coco (Murase) could also win the globe. I didn’t ride my best tonight, but I’m so happy I was still able to win another crystal globe.”
The final tally on the women’s big air World Cup rankings would see Iwabuchi on top with 192, Murase with 182, and Gasser jumping into third place with 180 points earned despite starting in just two of this season’s four World Cup competitions.
GUSELI GETS GLOBE WHILE JAPAN MAKES HISTORY
On the men’s side of the Kreischberg competition things were even more hectic, and it was the Japanese team absolutely leading the way in nearly every department.
First to speak of is Taiga Hasegawa, whose first carer World Cup podium helped make some history, as the 17-year-old on Saturday lead what was the first-ever Japanese sweep of a FIS Snowboard big air World Cup podium.
Competing in his his eighth World Cup, Hasegawa became just the second rider ever (after Beijing 2022 big air gold medal winner Su Yiming of China) to land two-ways 1800s in competition. Stomping a cab 1800 weddle on his first hit and then a frontside 1800 Indy on his second hit, Hasegawa earned himself a score of 186.00 and the right to a victory lap on his final run when none of the other nine riders in the men’s final could challenge that tally.
Second place went to another of the night’s Japanese history-makers, as Ryoma Kimata landed the first-ever 1980 in World Cup competition.
Kimata’s backside 1980 melon marked another new epoch in big air snowboarding, and the 20-year-old put it down with aplomb on his way to earning a score of 97.00 for the stomp - the highest marks given to any jump in the men’s competition. Combined with his switch backside 1620 stalefish from run one, Kimata would finish with 182.50 points.
The Japanese sweep was completed by 18-year-old Kira Kimura.
Showing once again that Japan has perhaps the greatest wealth of snowboard talent on the planet, Kimura dropped in on the first competition of his World Cup career and walked away with his first World Cup podium, landing a switch backside 1620 weddle and a backside 1800 melon for 181.75 on the scoreboard and his name in the history books forever.
On top of all of this, it’s also worth noting that Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara very nearly put down the first-ever SWITCH backside 1980 in competition just after Kimata’s final run. In fact, with the boost he had on that hit, Ogiwara could have conceivably taken it to 2160. However, it seems that marker will have to wait for another event before it will be broken in competition.
Finally, we come to the men’s big air World Cup overall winner, as 17-year-old Valentino Guseli’s made a bit of history of his own with a crystal globe victory that now makes him the first Australian to take that trophy in big air World Cup competition.
Guseli started Saturday’s competition just four points ahead of Chris Corning (USA), the current co-leader in all-time men’s Park & Pipe crystal globes. However, with his fourth place finish in Kreischberg and a seventh for Corning, Guseli was able to walk away triumphant, with his first career globe in hand.
“Firstly, wow. So hyped,” Guseli said, holding his new trophy, “I knew coming here it was a possibility to get the globe and I wanted to make it so bad, because it was a good opportunity to get this beautiful thing that is definitely going in my pool room.
“But I knew I had to beat Chris (Corning) who, out of anyone in the field, is probably the person you least want to have to beat, because he’s just so good and consistent. I think he’s won seven (crystal globes). So, I’m super happy. It was a battle and I landed my stuff. Couldn’t really ask for much more.”
Guseli would finish with 214 points, 18 ahead of Corning and his 196. Marcus Kleveland (NOR), who did not compete in Kreischberg, still finished in third place overall with 140 points.
Put it all together and you have what was arguably the greatest big air World Cup of a time, and truly an epic and fitting end to the 2022/23 big air World Cup season.
From Kreischberg we’ll be travelling directly on to Laax, where the first slopestyle and the second halfpipe competitions of the 2022/23 season will be going down in a big way at the Laax Open in Switzerland.
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