Brookes dominates as Spalding continues Canadian magic at 2025 Laax Open slopestyle
Jan 18, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe
British teenager Mia Brookes claimed her third victory of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season in spectacular fashion on Saturday, this time in slopestyle at the Laax Open in Switzerland.
On the men’s side, Canada’s Cameron Spalding won his second consecutive slopestyle event of the season after edging out his closest rival by a mere 0.41 points.
Seventeen-year-old Brookes topped the women’s final with a score of 84.86, with second place going to Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) on 77.29. Japan’s Kokomo Murase finished third on 71.15 points.
Brookes’ win on Saturday follows her third place finish at Big Air Kreischberg (AUT) last week, and is her third win of the season after the teen also won the big air events in Klagenfurt (AUT) and Beijing (CHN) earlier in January and December respectively.
After five podium finishes from six starts this World Cup season, Brookes continues to lead the overall women’s FIS Park & Pipe rankings on 485 points. She also leads the slopestyle standings.
Her victory in Laax carries even more significance given Brookes claimed her first World Cup podium here in 2023 as a 16-year-old runner-up.
Saturday’s win also comes one day before Brookes’ 18th birthday on Sunday.
“This is the best birthday present ever. I’m so hyped,” she said.
For runner-up Sadowski Synnott, Saturday’s performance marked her first World Cup podium finish since 2023, while third-placed Murase’s result is her second podium of the season after her slopestyle victory in Cardona (NZL) in September.
Two-time Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) finished fourth, followed by Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) in fifth place.
Trailing Canadian Cameron Spalding’s winning score of 86.63 on the men’s podium was Red Gerard (USA) on 86.22 points, while Germany’s Noah Viktor finished third on 83.72 points.
Last season’s Laax winner and slopestyle Crystal Globe title-holder Liam Brearley (CAN) finished fourth, while Jonas Hasler (SUI) rounded out the top five.
Spalding is the fifth Canadian to claim victory at Laax after Mark McMorris, Max Parrot, Sebastian Toutant and Brearley in 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2024 respectively.
Laax is Spalding’s second consecutive slopestyle win of the season after he also topped the slopestyle season opener in Cardrona.
The 19-year-old said he went into Saturday’s final determined to enjoy himself.
With two out of five slopestyle competitions completed, Spalding leads the discipline standings and is second on the overall men’s FIS Park & Pipe standings behind current leader Taiga Hasegawa (JPN). The Japanese rider has 322 points to his name, compared to Spalding’s 236 points.
The next snowboard slopestyle event of the World Cup season will take place in Aspen (USA) between 31 January and 2 February.
