Snowboard big air World Cup season preview 2023/24
Oct 19, 2023·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The 2023/24 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe big air World Cup season is set to get underway this weekend at the Big Air Chur Festival in Switzerland to kick off another big season of World Cup snowboarding in which we'll hit 14 competitions at 10 venues in five countries across three continents before it's all said and done.
Chur will be the first of big air World Cups this, and after taking a quick big air break through November we'll returnfor a fast and furious run of three competitions in three weeks through the first half of December to wrap the big air season before the holiday break.
Before we get underway in Chur, we’re looking ahead at these season’s big air campaign from top to bottom, giving you the full World Cup preview below…
THE VENUES
BIG AIR CHUR FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP (SUI) - 21 OCT
Big Air Chur set a whole new standard upon its debut as a World Cup stop back in 2021/22, and since then the season-opening competition has done nothing but get bigger, better and wilder. With some 30,000 people set to pass through the gates over the course of the weekend, a music festival atmosphere, and the biggest jump ever assembled in Switzerland towering over it all in the Grisons Rhine Valley, the Big Air Chur is set to once again set the season off on a high.
BEIJING FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP (CHN) - 30 NOV-02 DEC
Stop number two on this season’s big air World Cup takes us back to what is arguably the most striking venue in all of snowsports, the world’s first (and only) permanent, purpose-built big air venue in Beijing (CHN). The site of indelible memories from the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the Beijing big air venue is without parallel in the world. Don’t miss this one, because it’s almost a guarantee that we’ll see the highest competition level of the season there in China.
EDMONTON STYLE EXPERIENCE FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP (CAN) - 08-09 DEC
Fresh on the scene last season, the Edmonton Style Experience made an immediate impact, with a revolutionary jump design set inside the massive Commonwealth Stadium creating one of the most epic settings yet for World Cup big air competition. With some of last season’s kinks ironed out (more speed WILL be available!) and an even bigger, rowdier Canadian crowd sure to be on hand, Edmonton is set to take its place as a season highlight in 2023/24.
VISA BIG AIR COPPER MOUNTAIN FIS SNOWBOARD WORLD CUP (USA) - 13-16 DEC
The big air World Cup season is set to close at the VISA Big Air Copper Mountain, where the crystal globes will end up in the hands of the winter’s finest riders. Copper has been bringing the goods year in and year out since 2012/13, and last season was no exception. In welcoming big air action to its slopes for the first time since the 2017/18 season, Copper reminded us all how much we love a good ol’ fashioned on-piste booter, and we’re stoked to return to “The Athletes’ Mountain” again to finish off the 2022/23 season in style.
THE HEAVY HITTERS - WOMEN
ANNA GASSER - 32 - AUT
The snow queen still reigns supreme. After claiming a repeat big air Olympic gold medal two seasons ago at Beijing 2022, Anna Gasser showed once again last season why she’s one of the absolute best to ever do it, winning Bakuriani World Championships gold with an elite effort in tough conditions. There’s not much to say about Gasser that hasn’t been said before. She’s GOATed beyond GOATed, and she’s showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
REIRA IWABUCHI - 21 - JPN
Last season Reira Iwabuchi claimed her third career big air crystal globe, tying her with Anna Gasser for the most all-time in FIS Snowboard World Cup history. Iwabuchi’s third globe win, however, came just a few weeks after her 21st birthday, making her nearly 10 years younger than Gasser was when she claimed her third trophy.
The crystal globe triplet wasn’t the biggest news for Iwabuchi last season, however. No, that event came at the X Games, where she became the first woman to stomp a triple cork in competition on her way to gold. While once again it was Gasser leading the way two years previous by being the first woman to stomp a triple, full stop, Iwabuchi being the first to bring it to the competition arena was a momentous occasion for the sport.
MIA BROOKES - 17 - GBR
Steeze machine Mia Brookes shocked the snowboard world at the Bakuriani 2023 World Championships last season when she became the first woman in snowboard history to stomp a flat-spinning 1440 in competition (and possibly anywhere). The fact that she did so in the middle of a slopestyle run, without ever having landed the trick before, should tell you everything you need to know about the young ripper who has casually become one of snowboarding’s next big stars. And in case you happened to miss it when it went down - yes, with that run she won World Champs gold.
ZOI SADOWSKI-SYNNOTT - NZL - 22
One of the most well-rounded riders in snowboarding, full stop. Reigning Olympic slopestyle gold medallist, Natural Selection winner, five-time X Games gold medallist, podiums in every World Cup start since the start of the 2020/21 season…the accolades list is long, but for those who know, it’s the way that Zoi Sadowski-Synnott gets it done that really stands out. One of the most powerful and stylish women to ever do it, Zoi’s name is already amongst the greats, and she’s probably just hitting her prime now.
LAURIE BLOUIN - CAN - 27
One of the most unflappable riders in the game, Laurie Blouin has done nothing but step up when it counts time and time again in her career. While the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic slopestyle silver and Aspen 2021 World Champs big air gold stand tall amongst her many, many achievements, perhaps her finest moment to date came at last year’s X Games when she stepped up to stomp the second-ever women’s triple cork - a cab triple underflip 1260 - just a few runs after Iwabuchi landed the first, claiming big air silver in the process. When she puts on the bib, Blouin means business.
THE HEAVY HITTERS - MEN
TAIGA HASEGAWA - JPN - 17
Just starting the third year of his international career and already 17-year-olds Taiga Hasegawa is the de facto gnarliest man in big air. If his World Champs gold last season at Bakuriani 2023 isn’t enough to prove that to you, then his dropping all-four-ways-1980s in pre-season sessions in Cardrona (NZL) a few weeks ago most certainly should be. As of right now, nobody else on earth can do what Taiga can do, and if that ain’t enough to convince you that he’s the man to beat, we’re not sure what else to tell you.
VALENTINO GUSELI - AUS - 18
An absolute menace on the slopestyle course, in the halfpipe and on the big jump, last season Valentino Guseli became the first rider in World Cup history to podium in all three events in the same season on his way to claiming the Park & Pipe overall crystal globe. Not only that, but he also walked away with the big air globe in a campaign that saw him grab his first career World Cup win in Edmonton. Next globe to check off of his list? Global domination.
MARCUS KLEVELAND - NOR - 23
What do you say about the man who’s perhaps the most technically gifted rider to ever strap on a snowboard? Marcus Kleveland seems to invent tricks at will - check out this nollie double frontside rodeo tailgrab from his win in Copper last season. In fact, X Games had to come up with an entire knucklehuck competition just to deal with his absurd reinterpretation of what is possible on your standard park jump. Mark Kleveland down as the two-time reigning slopestyle World Champion, reigning X Games big air champion, multi-crystal globe winner, thoroughbred innovator, and podium favourite every time he drops in.
RYOMA KIMATA - JPN - 21
Honestly, after Taiga there are at least three more Japanese team riders who could be considered for this list, including Hiroto Ogiwara and Takeru Otsuka, but we’re going to go with Ryoma Kimata because he finished higher on the World Cup points list last season and he grabbed slopestyle silver at the Bakuriani 2023 World Championships On top of all that, he’s coached by the shred whisperer Yas Sato, who also counts Beijing 2022 big air gold medallist Su Yiming (CHN) amongst his disciplines. Which is to say, we’re expecting big things from Ryoma this season.
SU YIMING - CHN - 19
Speaking of Su Yiming, it’s hard to keep him off this list - even if he hasn’t competed in a World Cup competition since his win (and slopestyle silver) there in Beijing. Su largely took the season off last winter save for a stop at X Games (he claimed bronze), but he’s been seen back dropping his signature blend of “are you kidding me?” gnarliness in preseason training south of the equator. On top of that, some trustworthy sources have told us to expect him back in the World Cup bib in time for his home country stop in Beijing. We cannot wait.
THE STORYLINES
The Crystal globes: with no Olympics or World Championships on the calendar this year, it’s all about the World Cup and the crystal globes. It’s a busy calendar this season and we’re stoked to see how it all plays out.
The Japanese young guns: Taiga Hasegawa, Hiroto Ogiwara, Kokomo Murase, Yura Murase, Mari Fukada, Kira Kimura - every one of those riders is in their teens and already amongst the very best in the world. There’s a reason the Japanese won the Park & Pipe overall globe last season, and there’s a whole bunch more reasons to expect they’ll do it again in 2023/24.
The US team: It feels pretty weird not having a single US rider on our lists above, but that’s because the US team is a bit of an unknown quantity right now. Sean Fitzsimons and Jake Canter are on hand and should be pushing for the podium in Chur, but that’s it for this week, at least. Which competitions that riders from the birthplace of snowboarding decide to hit this year is still a little bit up in the air.
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