Cardrona 2023 JWCs close with epic big air golds for Maheux and Hasegawa
Sep 04, 2023·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Snowboard big air went down as the final competition of the Cardrona 2023 FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships in Monday, where Canada’s Momo Maheux and reigning World Champion Taiga Hasegawa of Japan walked away as the JWC gold medallists after a heavy-hitting - and nerve-wracking - afternoon of competition on the big jump in New Zealand.
With ideal weather and perfectly sculpted big air jump providing the scene of competition. we witnessed a highly-entertaining final event at Cardrona 2023, with the full skill and style of the next generation of snowboarding’s finest on display throughout.
Despite coming into finals as the sixth overall qualifier out of the 12 women in finals, Maheux showed she had the nerve and the quiver of tricks to rise to the top come time for the main event.
After stomping a big switch backside 720 Weddle on her first run, Maheux wasn’t able to put her frontside double cork Indy down clean in run number two. However, with her final run of the 2023 JWCs the 17-year-old stepped up and stomped that trick down, adding a score of 87.25 to her 81.75 from run one for a total of 169.00 and the gold medal.
Second place behind Maheux would go to Seoung Eun Yu, who put down a frontside 720 melon in runs one and frontside double cork 900 Indy on run two (and just barely missed a backside double cork 1080 on run three) for a score of 156.50 and the silver medal.
Rounding out the podium in third place was Japan’s Kiara Morii, who landed a cab 900 stalefish and a frontside 1080 Weddle to earn a score of 150.00 and the bronze medal.
Over on the men’s side of things it was the general consensus that Taiga Hasegawa would be nearly impossible to beat on Monday, as the 17-year-old came into competition as the reigning Bakuriani 2023 World Champion from March, as well as the slopestyle Junior World Champion from last week in Cardrona. And with another gutsy performance, Hasegawa proved that consensus correct.
Haswegawa lead off his finals in Cardrona with a statement trick, putting down a near-perfect cab 1620 frontside grab for a score of 92.00 that had him well in the lead after run one. However, after washing out on the landing of on run two, Haswegawa was left standing at the top of the drop-in for the final run of the afternoon needing a stomp if he was to become a two-time Junior World Champion in 2023.
And that stomp is just what he provided, going the other way with a regular frontside 1620 frontside grab for a score of 92.25, giving him a total of 184.25 and a dominant big air gold.
Second place behind Haswegawa was New Zealand’s own Rocco Jamieson, who also kept his spins flat with a backside 1440 Indy and a frontside 1440 frontside grab, ending up with a score of 162.00 and the silver medal.
Rounding out the men’s podium and claiming the bronze medal was Italy’s Ian Matteoli, who put on a technical clinic with his two jump combo of cab 1440 Weddle to tail grab and frontside 1440 frontside to nose grab, racking up a score of 157.00 for efforts.
And with that, the Cardrona 2023 Junior World Championships were in the books, showing that the next generation is ready to set the world alight and setting the stage for the season to come.
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Photos (courtesy Winter Games NZ)
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