Strong US squad on hand as big air returns to Copper Mountain
Dec 16, 2022·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Fresh off a mind-blowing show in Edmonton (CAN) at the Style Experience last weekend, the FIS Snowboard big air World Cup tour is right back at it this week in Copper Mountain (USA), where the third of this season’s four big air World Cups is set to go down at the VISA Big Air presented by Toyota.
This will be the first World Cup big air competition at Copper Mountain since the 2017/18 season, and with a super smooth, medium-poppy, on-piste jump set-up here the vibes are high and the trick selections already seen through two days of training suggests that this week’s competition is going to be a season-highlight.
Qualifications at the VISA Big Air are slated to begin on Thursday, 15 December with the women at 9:35 MT, followed by men’s heat one at at 11:40, and then heat two at 13:40. Finals, meanwhile, are scheduled for Saturday beginning at 10:00. The top five men from each qualification heat will advance to Saturday’s finals, along with the top eight women.
While Saturday’s Edmonton showdown is still fresh in our minds, much has changed for on the start lists for this week’s action in Copper, with the Canadian squad largely absent and bunch of heavy hitters from the host US team ready to drop in and make some noise on home soil.
IWABUCHI LOOKING FOR COPPER REPEAT, FIVE YEARS LATER
Atop the women’s big air World Cup rankings the tie between Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) and Jasmine Baird (CAN) won’t be lasting for long, as Baird hasn’t made the trip across the border for this week’s competition.
Iwabuchi and Baird both currently have 160 points, and with their nearest competitor Evy Poppe (BEL) 56 points back in third it will only take an average performance from Iwabuchi here in Copper to take a commanding lead of the big air rankings with just one event to go after this week’s competition.
When you consider that Iwabuchi has eight podiums, with seven of those podiums being victories, in 14 career big air World Cup starts - including a win last time big air was held at Copper - you start to get a pretty good idea of what just “average” means for the 21-year-old.
Along with Iwabuchi the Japanese team will also be fielding last season’s slopestyle and Park & Pipe overall crystal globe winner Kokomo Murase, as well as three-time crystal globe winner Miyabi Onituska, and up-and-comers Chihiro Edamatsu and Hinari Asanuma. While both Murase and Onitsuka took some hard slams last week in Edmonton, if they’re in decent shape here in Copper they’ll have the Japanese women looking formidable indeed.
Of course, they’ll be facing off agains the host US squad, with Beijing 2022 slopestyle silver medallist Julia Marino and style master Hailey Langland leading the way. Though it’s been almost four years since Marino hit a World Cup big air podium, and six years for Langland, both are more than capable of returning to the top-3 if they’re feeling it this week.
Along with Poppe, who scored her first career World Cup podium in Edmonton, the European contingent will look to the likes of Melissa Peperkamp (NED), Arianne Burri (SUI), Hanne Eilertsen (NOR) to challenge for spots in the finals on Saturday.
US HEAVIES READY TO THROW HAMMERS
Over on the men’s side of things the host US team is bringing the heat with Red Gerard, Dusty Henricksen, Brock Crouch and Judd Henkes all making their World Cup season debut, where they’ll be dropping in alongside Edmonton second-place finisher Chris Corning and semifinalists Jake Canter and Sean FitzSimons.
It’s a wealth of talent for the US Snowboard squad here in Copper, and even with the fierce international competition their chances of grabbing a least one podium look pretty darn good on paper.
Having said that, the International field is also looking pretty good on paper, with Australia’s Valentino Guseli leading the way after earning his first career World Cup win on Saturday in Edmonton.
Guseli is on a tear to start the season, finishing sixth at the Big Air Chur to open 2022/23, winning in Edmonton, and then on Wednesday qualifying for halfpipe finals here in Copper in fourth place. The 17-year-old is absolutely unmatched in all-around talent right now, and if he qualifies for Copper big air finals as well we might be witnessing the start of a run the likes of which has rarely been seen in competitive snowboarding. Watch this space.
It sure doesn’t stop there, though.
Again on the men’s side the Japanese team is outrageously talented, with Big Air Chur winner Takeru Otsuka, Edmonton finalists Hiroaki Kunitake and Ryoma Kimata, Taiga Hasegawa, Ruka Tobita, and more ready to make some noise here in Copper.
Looking at the contingent from across the Atlantic and it doesn’t get any less intimidating. Jonas Boesiger and Moritz Boll of Switzerland have been exceptional if a bit unlucky so far this season, Kalle Jarvilehto of Finland is fresh off a fifth-place finish in Edmonton, Italian Emiliano Lauzi is guaranteed to be pushing it to the limits, Jakub Hrones of Czechia has perhaps the world’s best 1800 in his trick arsenal…the list goes on.
Oh, and don’t forget about Norway’s Marcus Kleveland, the man with perhaps the finest board control the snowboard world has ever seen. He’s here, too.
Needless to say, we’re looking forward to what’s about to go down over the next few days here at the VISA Big Air presented by Toyota, and we hope you are, too.
WHERE TO WATCH (livestream links below)
skiandsnowboard.live (USA), Eurosport Asia, CBC streaming (CAN), CCTV16 (CHN), CT Sport Plus streaming (CZE), TV3 Sport 3HD (EST), V Sport + (FIN, NOR), L’Equipe streaming (FRA), JSPORTS 2 (JPN), TV3 Sport (LAT, LIT), ESPN Latin America, Polsat Sport News (POL), JOJ Sport (SVK), V Sport Vinter (SWE), SRG SSR (SUI), Viaplay streaming (GBR)
QUICK LINKS
Copper Mountain VISA Big Air presented by Toyota World Cup data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
YouTube livestream (with geo restrictions)
