Massive night for Japan with five out of six medals as Murase and Kimata become big air world champions

Mar 28, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe

Japan's Ryoma Kimata and Kokomo Murase with their 2025 World Championships big air gold medals. Photo: @fisparkandpipe

Kokomo Murase led a Japanese medal sweep on the way to becoming the women’s snowboard big air champion at the Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships on Friday, while her compatriot Ryoma Kimata topped the men’s field with a gutsy performance of his own.

In a spectacular night for Japanese snowboarding, five of the six big air medals on offer at Engadin 2025 on Friday night were won by Japanese riders.

Murase was the first Japanese rider to claim gold on Friday evening after the 20-year-old took an early lead in the six-woman final with a run one score of 85.75 for her switch frontside 1260 frontside grab.

Murase followed up her first run with a backside 1080 nosegrab in her second attempt that earned her 76.75 from the judges for a total of 162.50.

Compatriot Reira Iwabuchi claimed silver with 156.00 points, while Mari Fukada took bronze with 153.25. Momo Suzuki, also of Japan, finished fourth on 150.00.

Japan’s medal sweep is the first sweep of a women’s World Championships podium by any nation in FIS Park & Pipe history, and Murase is the first Japanese woman to win World Championships gold in big air.

Eight women originally qualified for the women’s final but slopestyle World Champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL) – who claimed her third slopestyle World title a week earlier – and Germany’s Annika Morgan did not start on Friday due to injuries suffered in training for the finals.

Great Britain’s Mia Brookes, who claimed two 2024/25 Crystal Globe trophies for big air and the overall women’s Park & Pipe, finished fifth on Friday, while two-time Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) finished sixth.

In the men’s final, Ryoma Kimata won gold after putting down an impressive backside 1980 melon in his third and final run which earned him a top score of 95.00 for a total of 176.75 points.

The 22-year-old began his gold-medal campaign on Friday with a frontside 1800 double tail grab which earned him 81.75.

Kimata fell heavily in his second run after attempting a backside 1980 melon, which resulted in a bloody nose and a score of 22.75. After receiving medical attention at the bottom of the course, Kimata returned to the top for run three and once again went for the backside 1980 and was rewarded with the highest score of the night to earn Japan’s second gold of the evening.

Silver went to Taiga Hasegawa, who looked set to defend his 2023 big air World Championships title before Kimata’s third run pushed Hasegawa’s total of 174.50 into second place.

Sixteen-year-old Oliver Martin of the USA claimed bronze with 171.50. Martin was the sole medallist of the evening who did not represent Japan, and his big air bronze medal is his second at these World Championships after he claimed slopestyle bronze on 21 March.

France’s Romain Allemand finished fourth on 170.25 after finishing the first and second runs within the top three before slipping outside of medal contention during the third run. Allemand also finished fourth in the Engadin 2025 slopestyle competition.

Yuto Miramura rounded out the top five in men’s big air.

Of the four Japanese riders in the 10-man final, Kimata was the only rider to end the 2024/25 FIS World Cup season without a top-three finish.

Hasegawa, on the other hand, ended the 2024/25 season with two Crystal Globe trophies in big air and the overall men’s Park & Pipe standings.