Snowboard stars eye big air Crystal Globe at season finale World Cup in Aspen
Feb 05, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
The final big air contest of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season in Aspen this week will decide who will walk away with the discipline’s coveted Crystal Globe.
The last big air competition of the season will begin with men’s qualifications on Wednesday at 9:25 Mountain Standard Time (MST), followed by women’s qualifications from 13:25.
Among the 56 men vying for a spot in Thursday’s final are reigning World Champion and current overall Park & Pipe leader Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) and compatriots Kira Kimura, Ryoma Kimata, Hiroto Ogiwara, with the latter heading into this week’s competition as the first rider in snowboard history to land a 2340 degree rotation on his way to winning X Games gold two weekends ago.
On top of being in the running for the overall Crystal Globe, 19-year-old Hasegawa leads the big air World Cup standings with two wins from Chur (SUI) and Klagenfurt (AUT) and one second place finish from Kreischberg (AUT). Hasegawa’s ninth place finish in Beijing (CHN) in December is the only time he has missed the podium out of four big air World Cup starts this season.
Trailing Hasegawa in the big air World Cup standings is Italy’s Ian Matteoli, who currently sits on 210 points compared to Hasegawa’s 309 points. The 19-year-old Italian was runner-up to Hasegawa at Big Air Klagenfurt, his second podium finish of the season after also taking second place in Beijing behind Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara, who recently won gold at the X Games Aspen 2025.
With the 99 point gap between Hasegawa and Matteoli, Hasegawa needs only to finish 30th or better this week in Aspen to claim the Globe.
China’s Yang Wenlong also boasts two podium finishes after winning Big Air Kreischberg and taking third place in front of a home crowd in Beijing. The 25-year-old has steadily climbed the rankings since finishing 13th at the big air season opener in Chur in October.
Chinese compatriot and Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games big air champion Su Yiming is another name to watch in Aspen after the 22-year-old managed to turn around an injury-plagued season with second place in slopestyle here in Aspen over the weekend. Prior to Aspen, Su’s best result of the season was sixth in slopestyle at the Laax Open in January and ninth at Big Air Kreischberg.
Other names to watch include Norway’s Oyvind Kirkhus, who finished third behind Matteoli at Big Air Klagenfurt and just outside the podium in fifth and fourth place at Kreischberg and Beijing respectively. Current slopestyle standings leader Cameron Spalding (CAN) and the USA’s Chris Corning will also be on hand in Aspen. Twenty-five-year-old Corning is the only rider in Aspen who has10 big air World Cup top-three finishes to his name.
New Zealand’s Rocco Jamieson will also be keen to return to the World Cup podium after claiming third place in slopestyle in Cardrona (NZL) in September, followed by second place in big air in Chur. After those two starts, however, the 18-year-old did not qualify for the following three big air finals. Jamieson recently finished 12th in slopestyle over the weeknd in Aspen, up one spot from 13th at the Laax Open. At the recent 2025 X Games in Aspen, Jamieson finished third behind runner-up Hasegawa and gold medallist Ogiwara.
On the women’s side, overall Park & Pipe leader Mia Brookes (GBR) leads the big air standings with two wins from four podium finishes. While the 18-year-old and Japan’s Mari Fukada each sit on 305 points in the discipline World Cup standings, Fukada only has one big air win to her name thus far this season.
Brookes has also amassed three slopestyle podium finishes, including a recent third place in Aspen on 2 February and an outright victory at the Laax Open after she was runner-up at the slopestyle season-opener in Cardrona.
Of her seven World Cup starts thus far this season, Brookes has only missed the podium once with fifth place in big air in Chur in October, and the British rider sits comfortably atop the overall Park & Pipe World Cup standings with 500 points.
Unfortunately, double Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) will not be contesting the final big air World Cup of the season in Aspen. The 33-year-old won Big Air Kreischberg in January and looked set to drop in on both slopestyle and big air in Aspen after claiming big air gold at the recent X Games, but withdrew from her World Cup events due to illness.
The Murase sisters from Japan are also both worth watching, with older sister Kokomo buoyed by her second-place finish in slopestyle in Aspen this past weekend. The 20-year-old also finished third in slopestyle at the Laax Open and topped the field at the season-opener in Cardrona. In big air her best result so far was fourth at Chur, but Kokomo has qualified for every big air final bar Kreischberg where she did not start.
Meanwhile, Kokomo’s 18-year-old sister Yura has qualified for three finals this season across slopestyle and big air, with seventh place in big air in Beijing her best result thus far.
New Zealand’s Zoi Sadowski-Synnott will be keen to continue her good form in big air after claiming bronze on the same jump during the X Games on 24 January. Her recent slopestyle World Cup win in Aspen on 2 February is the 23-year-old’s first World Cup victory in two years and marks a comeback to the top spot for the 2023 Laax Open winner. Sadowski-Synnott was also runner-up at this year’s Laax Open in January. In the only other big air World Cup she contested this season at Chur, Sadowski-Synnott did not qualify for the final.
Following qualifications on Wednesday, the final for the fifth and last big air competition of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season will begin with the women’s runs on Thursday from 13:00 MST. Only the top eight women’s qualifiers and top 10 men’s qualifiers will progress to Thursday’s finals.
BIG AIR FACTS & FIGURES
Chris Corning (USA) has the most big air World Cup podium finishes among active men’s riders with 10.
Anna Gasser (AUT) remains the most successful World Cup big air snowboarder with 20 podium finishes, including 10 wins.
QUICK LINKS
Aspen Big Air World Cup data page (start list, live scoring, results)
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