Stacked slopestyle field on hand for Laax Open’s 10th anniversary
Jan 14, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Almost 100 snowboarders are set to contest the much anticipated second slopestyle event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season in Laax this week.
Competition at the 2025 Laax Open will begin with the men’s qualifications on Wednesday, followed by the women’s qualifications on Thursday. The men’s and women’s finals will take place on Saturday.
The men’s field of 63 riders includes the winner of the slopestyle World Cup season-opener in Cardrona (NZL) in September, Canada’s Cameron Spalding. The 19-year-old claimed victory ahead of Norwegian Mons Roisland and third-placed Rocco Jamieson (NZL), and both will compete in Laax this week.
Cardrona marked the first World Cup win of Spalding’s career, and since September the Canadian has also finished 14th in big air in Chur and Beijing respectively.
Current overall men’s FIS Park & Pipe leader Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) will also be in Laax, just days after the reigning big air World Champion was runner-up at Big Air Kreischberg in Austria. Nineteen-year-old Hasegawa started the new year with a big air victory in Klagenfurt on 5 January, but did not qualify for the Cardrona final in September.
Trailing Hasegawa in the Park & Pipe standings is Ian Matteoli (ITA), who was also runner-up to Hasegawa in Klagenfurt. The 19-year-old Italian will be hoping to make up for his big air performance in Kreischberg last weekend, where he did not qualify for the final.
Last season’s big air Crystal Globe winner Kira Kimura (JPN) is one of six Japanese riders competing in Laax. The 20-year-old will be buoyed by his third-place finish at Big Air Kreischberg last week, after a rocky start to the World Cup season with just one podium finish from four starts.
Also joining Hasegawa and Kimura in Laax are Japanese compatriots Ryoma Kimata and Hiroto Ogiwara, with the latter winning the last big air World Cup event of 2024 in Beijing.
China’s Yang Wenlong finished third in Beijing and comes to Laax off the back of his impressive big air victory in Kreischberg last week. The 25-year-old is currently enjoying the best season of his career having never finished within the top five at a World Cup event before this winter.
Last season’s slopestyle Crystal Globe winner Liam Brearley (CAN) missed Cardona due to a minor injury, but is in Laax look to defend his Laax Open title from last season. The 21-year-old was able to earn his first World Cup victory here at the most prestigious competition of the season.
Outside of current World Cup standings conversations but still very much capable of making some noise this weekend is a long list of some of the world’s most respected snowboarders, such as Brearley’s Canadian compatriot Mark McMorris.
Outside of current World Cup standings conversations but still very much capable of making some noise this weekend is a long list of some of the world’s most respected snowboarders, with Brearley’s Canadian compatriot Mark McMorris at the top of that list.
A three-time Olympic bronze medallist, two-time World Champion, and the most decorated athlete in winter X Games history, if McMorris is to make a bid for his fourth Olympic Winter Games at Milano Cortina 2026, then the journey will start this week in Laax.
Reigning slopestyle World Champion and 2023 Laax Open winner Marcus Kleveland (NOR), 2018 Olympic Games slopestyle gold medallist and reigning X Games winner Red Gerard (USA), and Swedish legend Sven Thorgren - rumoured to be dropping in on the final World Cup competition of his career - are a few of the other heavyweights to keep on eye on in the men’s field.
On the women’s side, overall Park & Pipe leader Mia Brookers (GBR) is the woman to beat when women’s qualifications begin on Thursday.
Brookes - who will turn 18 the day after the Laax finals, on Sunday - also leads the Big Air World Cup standings after finishing within the top three at every big air event this season, including back-to-back wins in Beijing and Klagenfurt in December and January respectively. The British teenager was also runner-up at the slopestyle season-opener in Cardrona behind winner Kokomo Murase (JPN).
The 20-year-old Japanese rider’s performances this season have been varied. After her Cardrona victory, Murase finished fourth at Big Air Chur in October, then eighth at the next big air contest in Beijing despite topping qualifications. Murase again topped big air qualifications in Klagenfurt but finished last in the final, and she did not start at Big Air Kreischberg last week.
Murase is one of five Japanese snowboarders in the women’s field of 32. Also joining her in Laax is Reira Iwabuchi, who has been runner-up at two of the four big air events completed thus far this season. Iwabuchi, 23, was fourth in slopestyle at Cardrona, and finished just outside the big air podium in fourth and fifth place at Klagenfurt and Beijing respectively.
Eighteen-year-old Mari Fukada (JPN) is currently second on the overall Park & Pipe standings behind Brookes. Fukada has three big air podiums so far this season, including a win in Chur and two second-place finishes from Beijing and Klagenfurt. Her fifth place finish in Kreischberg last week and seventh place in slopestyle in Cardrona are her only results outside the top three since the season began.
Two-time Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) comes to Laax having claimed her 10th World Cup win in big air, and 31st World Cup podium overall, in Kreischberg last week.
The win marked 33-year-old Gasser’s 20th big air World Cup podium in a storied career spanning big air and slopestyle, two world championship titles, and three editions of the Olympic Winter Games including gold medals from Beijing 2022 and Pyeongchang 2018. Gasser is tied on 11 with the USA’s Jamie Anderson for the all-time World Cup record for most slopestyle podiums.
Gasser’s closest rival, Laurie Blouin (CAN), has eight slopestyle podiums to her credit. Blouin returns to the World Cup tour in Laax after claiming third place at Big Air Chur in October. Blouin did not qualify for the slopestyle final in Cardrona.
Beijing 2022 slopestyle champion and big air silver medallist Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) will be hoping to turn her World Cup season around in Laax after the 23-year-old did not qualify for the Kreischberg final last week.
The New Zealander also finished at the bottom of the final in Cardrona in September. The reigning Olympic slopestyle gold medallist, Sadowski Synnott has also won seven X Games medals across big air and slopestyle.
SLOPESTYLE FACTS & FIGURES
Anna Gasser (AUT) has finished on the slopestyle podium at 11 World Cup events, including three wins.
Kokomo Murase (JPN) has four wins out of a total of eight slopestyle podiums.
QUICK LINKS
Laax data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
Laax photos (coming soon)
)
