Tenth anniversary of Laax Open halfpipe promises to be biggest yet
Jan 16, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The most legendary competition in snowboarding is set to be even bigger this year as the Laax Open wraps up its 10th anniversary celebration this weekend with halfpipe finals under the lights of Crap Sogn Gion.
Anticipation is at an all-time high for the Laax Open’s 10th anniversary bash and up to 10,000 people are expected to make the pilgrimage to the Laax halfpipe on Saturday night for a stacked start list and the best halfpipe in the world primed and ready to be shredded.
The prolific event comes one month after the last World Cup halfpipe competition of 2024 went down in Copper Mountain (USA) in December.
Laax is the third World Cup pipe event of the 2024/25 season and competition will begin on Friday with women’s semifinals at 9:25 Central European Time (CET), followed by the men’s semifinals at 12:05.
Finals are slated for Saturday evening beginning at 18:15.
In December Japanese snowboarders claimed five of the six available podium spots at Copper and it will be interesting to see if the same athletes can continue this streak in Laax.
The field of 30 women in Laax is led by 15-year-old Sara Shimizu (JPN). In Copper the teenager claimed victory ahead of all-time FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe podium record holder Cai Xuetong (CHN), whose second place finish in Copper marked the 31-year-old’s 33rd World Cup podium. Cai currently leads the women’s halfpipe World Cup standings but is not competing in Laax.
Shimizu trails Cai’s 160 points by just 15 points, putting the Japanese teen just ahead of the USA’s Maddie Mastro, who currently sits on 140 points in third place.
Mastro claimed victory at the halfpipe season-opener Secret Garden (CHN) in early December ahead of Cai, marking the American’s first World Cup win after 15 previous podium finishes, including third place at Laax in 2023.
Shimizu is joined in Laax by Japanese compatriot and two-time reigning Crystal Globe winner Mitsuki Ono (JPN), who finished third in Copper and narrowly missed the podium at Secret Garden. Twenty-year-old Ono claimed victory at the previous World Cup in Laax in 2024.
Meanwhile, two-time Olympic Winter Games halfpipe champion Chloe Kim (USA) will be looking to improve on her fourth-place finish in Copper, which was just her third World Cup start since her victory at the Beijing 2022 Games. Four of Kim’s 10 World Cup victories were in Laax - in 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
A total of seven U.S. snowboarders are competing in Laax, including 30-year-old Maddy Schaffrick who returned to the World Cup tour in triumphant fashion by earning a third place finish at Secret Garden in December after nearly a decade away from top-level snowboard competition. Schaffrick finished fifth behind Kim in Copper.
Other names to look out for in the women's field of 30 riders is Sena Tomita (JPN). The 25-year-old Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games halfpipe bronze medallist was third behind Kim and Cai in qualifications at Copper but ultimately finished eighth out of 10 finalists. Tomita has amassed nine World Cup podiums in her career since 2017, including four as runner-up, and previously finished third in Laax in 2021.
Also keep an eye on 16-year-old Gaon Choi (KOR) who won the first World Cup start of her career at Copper Mountain last season and then went on to claim the 2023 X Games title, but has since been plagued by injury.
The men’s field of 45 snowboarders has no shortage of champions, including Beijing 2022 halfpipe gold medallist Ayumu Hirano (JPN). Hirano took the win at Copper Mountain in a high-scoring Japanese podium sweep led by the 26-year-old’s 97.00, followed by Yuto Totsuka’s 94.75, and Ruka Hirano’s 92.75 in third place.
With runner-up honours from Copper and his victory at Secret Garden, 23-year-old Totsuka leads the halfpipe World Cup standings on 180 points compared to Ayumu Hirano’s 150 points.
Australia’s Scotty James is currently third in the standings, while Japan’s Ruka Hirano and Ryusei Yamada round out the top five spots in men’s halfpipe. Thirty-year-old James missed the podium in Copper after starting the season with second place in Secret Garden. However, James comes into this season’s Laax Open as the reigning champion after an impressive victory last season.
A total of seven Japanese snowboarders are contesting the men’s event in Laax, second only to the USA’s nine riders, including Jason Wolle, Joey Okesson and Chase Josey, who finished in seventh, eighth and ninth place respectively in Copper.
Reigning halfpipe World Champion Chaeun Lee (KOR) will be competing in his fifth World Cup event of the season after also contesting slopestyle and big air events in Cardrona and Beijing in September and December respectively. In Copper the 18-year-old topped qualifications but missed the podium with fifth place in the final.
The women’s and men’s qualifications on Friday morning will be followed by the finals on Saturday evening from 18:00 CET.
HALFPIPE FACTS & FIGURES
Yuto Totsuka (JPN) has 20 World Cup halfpipe podiums, including eight wins.
His closest rival, Ross Powers (USA), amassed 21 World Cup podiums before retiring from halfpipe competition in 2006.
Scotty James (AUS) has won nine World Cup halfpipe events from a total of 16 podiums.
Cai Xuetong (CHN) has amassed 33 World Cup halfpipe podiums since 2009, including 14 victories.
QUICK LINKS
Laax Halfpipe World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
Photos (coming soon)
