Hype rising for first Spring Battle x World Cup slopestyle at Absolut Park Flachauwinkl
Mar 04, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Excitement is building for the final competition of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup season, as for the first time in Park & Pipe history Flachau is set to host World Cup action at the storied Absolut Park Flachauwinkl.
The final weekend of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup season was originally slated for Livigno and the test event for slopestyle competition at the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Unfortunately, that competition was cancelled due to ongoing work at the venue ahead of the Games.
Fortunately Absolut Park Flachauwinkl had an opening in their calendar immediately after their annual Spring Battle competition and they, along with Snowboard Austria, had the will to make some magic happen. After some quick and intense collaboration between the Austrian contingents and FIS Snowboard officials, lead by Contest Director Roby Moresi, what was shaping up to be a blank space on the 2024/25 calendar is now set to be one of the highlights of the season.
While Flachau has a long history of hosting FIS World Cup competitions (most notably in Alpine Skiing, dating back to 1993), this will be the area’s first time hosting FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup action.
Despite the lack of previous Park & Pipe World Cup action, the valley has a deep and celebrated freestyle history, with Absolut Park Flachauwinkl standing as one of the world’s premier training and proving grounds as exhibited by the likes of Anna Gasser and Clemens Millauer calling the park home.
An competition institution since 2002, Absolut Park’s Spring Battle competition is an event considered by many to be one of the most exciting and innovative formats in snowboarding. For the FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup to now be joining this annual celebration of freestyle as an additional showcase is an incredibly exciting opportunity for all involved.
This season’s Spring Battle/World Cup week begins on 8 March, 2025, with the World Cup portion of the event happening from 13-14 March. The two competitions can be looked at as separate but together, with awards set to handed out for the traditional Spring Battle as well as the World Cup.
Alongside the Spring Battle and World Cup podiums up for grabs, the slopestyle and Park & Pipe overall Crystal Globes will also be awarded at competition’s end in to the best start-to finish riders of the 2024/25 World Cup season.
Currently it’s Mia Brookes (GBR) and Cameron Spalding (CAN) leading the way on the slopestyle standings, while Brookes and Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) are holding down top spots on the overall rankings. Already the big air Crystal Globe winner, Brookes will be looking to become the first rider in FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup history to claim three Globes in one season at the ender in Absolut Park.
With so much on the line, and with the St. Moritz/Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships starting immediately after the World Cup season ender there in Flachauwinkl, expect the creme-de-la-creme of the snowboard world set to be on the scene in Absolut Park and throwing down as we look to end another World Cup campaign on a high.
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