All eyes on Aspen as snowboarders seek slopestyle success
Jan 30, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Aspen is the place to be this weekend as the world’s top riders get ready to lay it on the line on the iconic Buttermilk slopestyle course for the second and final U.S. stop of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup season.
The Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen will be the third slopestyle event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season after Cardrona (NZL) and Laax (SUI) in September and January respectively.
Aspen is the second U.S. resort this season to host a FIS Snowboard World Cup after Copper hosted a halfpipe World Cup in December.
Slopestyle competition in Aspen will begin on Friday 31 January with women’s qualifications at 9:00 Mountain Standard Time (MST), followed by men’s qualifications at 11:30.
The field of 63 men is led by Cameron Spalding (CAN), who currently sits on 200 points in the slopestyle World Cup standings and is ranked second overall in the men’s Park & Pipe.
Spalding comes to Aspen fresh off his second consecutive slopestyle victory of the season in Laax on 18 January. The 19-year-old won the event ahead of runner-up Red Gerard (USA), while Germany’s Noah Vicktor finished third for his first career World Cup podium.
Spalding’s victory in Laax was the fifth time a Canadian has won the Laax Open since 2016, and this weekend the teenager is one of six Canadians hoping to make a mark on the Aspen slopestyle course.
Joining Spalding in Aspen are compatriots Liam Brearley — who won last year’s Laax Open on his way to claiming the 2023/24 slopestyle Crystal Globe — as well as Eli Bouchard, Frank Jobin, Truth Smith, and Mark McMorris.
One of the most decorated freestyle snowboarders in competition history, 30-year-old McMorris comes into this week’s Toyota U.S. Grand Prix in Aspen fresh off a silver medal performance at last weekend’s X Games behind back-to-back X Games winner Gerard.
Japan’s Taiga Hasegawa finished third at the X Games, and all three X Games podium riders should be looked to as contenders this weekend on a slopestyle course that is largely unchanged since X.
The host U.S. team is fielding a heavy squad alongside Gerard, with the likes of Dusty Henricksen, Chris Corning, Judd Henkes, Brock Crouch and Fynn Bullock-Womble all on hand and capable of making some noise in the coming days.
While Gerard and Corning lead the men’s all-time FIS Snowboard World Cup slopestyle podiums rankings with eight apiece, just behind them is Marcus Kleveland of Norway with seven, including five wins.
The last time we were in Aspen for FIS competition was in 2021 for World Championships followed immediately by World Cup action, and Kleveland went back-to-back with the victories in both those events.
The last time we were in Aspen for FIS competition was in 2021 for World Championships followed immediately by World Cup action, and Kleveland went back-to-back with the victories in both those events.
Fellow Norwegian Mons Roisland is currently fourth in the discipline standings after claiming second place at the slopestyle season-opener in Cardrona. In Aspen the 28-year-old will be hoping to make up for not progressing past the qualifications round at the Laax Open.
China’s Su Yiming is another one to watch in Aspen as the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games big air champion and slopestyle silver medallist shakes off an injury-plagued start to the World Cup season.
So far the 20-year-old’s best result from six starts was sixth place in Laax, but the double Olympic medallist has also been a finalist in five of the six events he has contested.
In women’s slopestyle, Great Britain’s Mia Brookes remains the woman to beat as the current overall Park & Pipe leader on 485 points across slopestyle and big air. The reigning slopestyle World Champion, 18-year-old Brookes took the win at the Laax Open earlier in January and finished second at the season-opener in Cardrona behind Japan’s Kokomo Murase.
While Brookes and Murase made the podium at last weekend’s X Games slopestyle here in Aspen, both riders were looking up to Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, as the New Zealander broke new ground on her way to her first victory of the 2024/25 season.
As the first woman to land a backside triple cork 1440 in slopestyle competition at those X Games, Sadowski-Synnott could be very tough to beat in this weekend’s World Cup action on what is essentially the same course.
With 180 points, Brookes is just clear of Murase’s 160 on the women’s slopestyle World Cup rankings. Along with Murase, the Japanese team is also well-represented by Reira Iwabuchi, who is currently ranked second overall in the Park & Pipe standings behind Brookes.
Iwabuchi has finished within the top five in all of her six World Cup starts this season and seems destined to claim a slopestyle podium soon after finishing fourth and fifth at Cardrona and Laax respectively.
Mari Fukada is another Japanese rider whose big air success could translate to a top five finish in Aspen. The 18-year-old is currently third on the overall Park & Pipe standings with two second place finishes and one victory in big air from Klagenfurt (AUT), Beijing (CHN) and Chur (SUI) respectively. In slopestyle Fukada finished seventh in Cardrona and did not qualify for the Laax final.
Team USA will be placing its hopes in one veteran and a pair of teenagers in the women’s field as Julia Marino continues her comeback from injury with her first home soil World Cup since December 2023, while 15-year-old Lily Dhawornvej and 18-year-old Rebecca Flynn look to continue strong campaigns.
Flynn, who finished third behind Brookes in Cardrona for her first World Cup podium, is currently the only U.S. rider featured in the women’s top 10 slopestyle World Cup standings.
One big question mark on the women’s side of things will be the health of Austria’s Anna Gasser, who comes into the Aspen Slopestyle World Cup fresh off of X Games big air gold, but who sat out Wednesday’s training due to illness. If Gasser is healthy in time for Friday’s qualies, count on her to be amongst the top-8 heading through to Sunday’s finals.
Following the women’s and men’s qualifications on Friday, the top eight women and top 10 men will progress to the finals on Sunday 2 February beginning at 9:30 MST.
SLOPESTYLE FACTS & FIGURES
Anna Gasser (AUT) is tied with Jamie Anderson (USA) on 11 slopestyle World Cup podium finishes.
Their closest rival, Kokomo Murase (JPN), has amassed nine slopestyle World Cup podiums.
Marcus Kleveland (NOR) has amassed five slopestyle World Cup victories, out of a total of seven podiums.
Chris Corning (USA) and Red Gerard (USA) each have eight World Cup podium finishes, with four wins apiece.
QUICK LINKS
Aspen U.S. Grand Prix Slopestyle World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
