Heavyweight Japanese team looking for more hardware at first Big Air Klagenfurt
Jan 02, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Big things are expected from Japan's snowboarding contingent at the Big Air Klagenfurt this weekend, with more than half of the men’s and women’s top five ranked riders hailing from Japan.
The third big air event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season will begin with women's qualifications on Friday 3 January for a spot in the finals on Sunday during the first edition of Big Air Klagenfurt in Austria.
A total of 73 riders will be competing at the only stadium event of the season this weekend in Klagenrfurt, with a mix of big names and up-and-coming talent on hand looking to wow what is expected to be a huge crowd at Woerthersee Stadium on Sunday.
Four out of the women’s big air top five are Japanese, with Reira Iwabuchi leading the women’s way, while Japan's Hiroto Ogiwara leads the men's big air standings just ahead of his compatriot and reigning World Champion Taiga Hasegawa, who is third.
British teenager Mia Brookes currently leads the overall Park & Pipe standings for women after the 17-year-old won the FIS Snowboard World Cup for big air in Beijing in December. In second place there in Beijing was Japanese rider Mari Fukada, while two-time Olympic Winter Games big air champion and all-time women’s big air World cup wins leader Anna Gasser (AUT) took third place.
Despite finishing second in Beijing, Fukada leads the big air World Cup standings ahead of Brookes thanks to Fukada's season-opening win at Big Air Chur in October.
Currently ranked third behind Brookes in big air is Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), who was runner-up at Chur in October for the second year in a row.
At just 22, Iwabuchi has already amassed 10 World Cup podium finishes in big air, including seven wins, to trail all-time leader Gasser’s nine victories out of 18 podium finishes.
To round out the Japanese majority in the women's big air top five are Kokomo Murase and Miyabi Onitsuka in equal fourth place.
In a field of 22 women at Big Air Klagenfurt, Japan is represented by six riders. At the previous big air event on the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup calendar in Beijing, five of the women’s eight finalists were Japanese.
The host Austrian squad will be placing high hopes on Gasser following her third place in Beijing in contrast to the 33-year-old not advancing past the qualification round at Big Air Chur in October, thus missing the podium for the first time in her big air World Cup career. Gasser still leads the big air field with 30 World Cup top-3s, which puts her second on the all-time FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe podium rankings.
In the men’s competition, the field of 51 riders features six Japanese riders, with two among the top five in men’s big air World Cup standings.
At the most recent World Cup event in Beijing in December, reigning World Champion Taiga Hasegawa finished ninth in contrast to the 19-year-old taking the first win of the season at Chur in October.
Meanwhile, Japanese teenager Hiroto Ogiwara goes into Big Air Klagenfurt on top of the big air World Cup standings after winning in Beijing.
Trailing 19-year-old Ogiwara in the standings is Ian Matteoli of Italy, who scored the highest run at Big Air Beijing with 97.75 for stomping a 2160 Weddle to tailgrab, the first rider in competition history to land a full six rotation trick.
Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games big air gold medallist Su Yiming (CHN) will be looking to turn around his season in Klagenfurt after he finished last in the finals on home soil at the World Cup competition in Beijing earlier this season.
Last season’s big air Crystal Globe winner Kira Kimura is also among the strong Japanese contingent at Klagenfurt. Kimura's consistent podium finishes during the 2023/24 season were key to him landing atop the standings by season’s end. However, after sustaining an injury in training for the Big Air Chur, Kimura is yet to drop in on a World Cup competition thus far in 2024/25. Look for the 20-year-old to come out swinging this week in Klagenfurt.
One of this season’s most impressive performers thus far is New Zealand’s Rocco Jamieson, who kicked off his World Cup season with third place in slopestyle at Cardrona in September, followed by second place at Big Air Chur in October.
Big air competition will begin on Friday with women's qualifications from 11:15 Central Eastern Time (CET), with the top eight women progressing to the finals on Sunday. Men's qualifications and finals will take place on Sunday.
After the finals, German rapper Bonez MZ and hip hop group Culcha Candela will take to the stage on Sunday night to close the inaugural Big Air Klagenfurt.
BIG AIR FACTS & FIGURES
Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) has amassed 10 World Cup podium finishes in snowboard big air, including seven wins.
Anna Gasser (AUT) remains the most successful World Cup big air snowboarder with 19 podium finishes, including nine wins.
Chris Corning (USA) has the most big air World Cup podium finishes among active men’s riders with 10.
QUICK LINKS
Big Air Klagenfurt World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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