World Cup slopestyle showdown and Crystal Globe arrives in Flachau for Spring Battle
Mar 12, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
The final slopestyle contest of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season is set to go off with a bang in Flachau this week as the Austrian snow resort hosts the Crystal Globe decider for the first time.
Nearly 100 riders will contest the fifth and final slopestyle competition of the 2024/25 FIS season at Absolut Park Flachauwinkl (AUT) when qualifications begin on Thursday 13 March.
Mia Brookes (GBR) leads a field of 36 women in Flachau, and the 18-year-old looks to become the first woman in FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe history to claim three Crystal Globes in one season.
Already the 2024/25 big air Globe winner, Brookes currently sits atop both the slopestyle and the Park & Pipe overall World Cup rankings on the strength of seven podiums in eight starts – including a top-three finish at all four slopestyle events thus far, highlighted by victory at the Laax Open (SUI) in January.
If Brookes lands her eighth podium of the season here at Absolut Park, she will set a new World Cup benchmark for big air and slopestyle riders, surpassing the seven-podium season that Anna Gasser (AUT) enjoyed in 2016/17. The record for the most Park & Pipe podiums in a single season is held by Sabine Wehr-Hasler (GER), who hit the World Cup halfpipe podium nine times in 1999/2000.
At the most recent slopestyle World Cup in Calgary (CAN) in February, Brookes finished third behind runner-up Annika Morgan (GER), while Japan’s Mari Fukada claimed victory.
Fukada is one of five Japanese snowboarders in the women’s field which includes last season’s overall women’s Park & Pipe Crystal Globe winner Kokomo Murase. Twenty-year-old Murase trails Brookes in the slopestyle standings on 240 points and did not compete in Calgary, but finished first, third and second in Cardrona (NZL), Laax and Aspen (USA) respectively.
Both Murase and Brookes will likely face tough competition in Flachau from Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games slopestyle champion Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), whose return to form in 2025 from injury has yielded back-to-back World Cup victories in Aspen across slopestyle and big air.
The 24-year-old New Zealander also started the year off strong with second place at Laax in January, followed by X Games slopestyle gold ahead of Murase and Brookes in second and third place respectively.
Other riders to watch in the women’s field include Beijing 2022 slopestyle bronze medallist Tess Coady (AUS) and two-time reigning Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser. The 33-year-old Austrian did not start at the most recent slopestyle World Cup in Aspen but finished fourth in Laax and fifth at the season-opener in Cardrona (NZL).
Gasser also claimed X Games big air gold ahead of silver medallist Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) – who will also be in Flachau – and bronze medallist Sadowski-Synnott.
In men’s slopestyle, 19-year-old Canadian Cameron Spalding leads the field of 62 men into Flachau despite finishing 16th at the two most recent World Cup events in Calgary and Aspen.
Spalding currently has 230 points to his name and will be keen to return to the winning form which gave him back-to-back victories in Laax and Cardrona to open the slopestyle season.
Trailing Spalding in the slopestyle World Cup standings is U.S. rider Red Gerard on 192 points. The 24-year-old was runner-up behind 16-year-old compatriot Oliver Martin in Calgary and second to Spalding at the Laax Open. At the 2025 X Games in January, Gerard won slopestyle gold ahead of Canada’s Mark McMorris and reigning big air World Champion Taiga Hasegawa (JPN), who will both be in Flachau.
Nineteen-year-old Hasegawa currently holds an untouchable lead atop the overall men’s Park & Pipe standings on 439 points after he claimed this season’s big air Crystal Globe in February with two victories and two second place finishes. Already the 2024/25 big air Crystal Globe winner, Hasegawa is guaranteed to walk away with the big overall trophy by competition’s end on Friday at Absolut Park no matter what his result this week.
Third in the slopestyle rankings behind Gerard and Spalding is China’s Su Yiming. The Beijing 2022 big air gold medallist has been battling injury all season but appeared to turn it around in Aspen with second place in slopestyle behind Canada’s Francis Jobin while Sean Fitzsimons (USA) was third.
Jobin’s win marked his first World Cup podium since he made his tour debut in 2016, while Fitzsimon’s Aspen performance is his second podium finish since winning the Laax Open in 2022.
Jobin, McMorris and Spalding are among seven Canadians in the men’s field, which also includes last season’s slopestyle Crystal Globe winner Liam Brearley.
The top 10 women and top 16 men from qualifications will compete in the finals on Friday 14 March from 10:00 CET.
SLOPESTYLE FACTS & FIGURES
Kokomo Murase (JPN) has 10 slopestyle World Cup podium finishes.
Marcus Kleveland (NOR) has amassed five slopestyle World Cup victories, out of a total of seven podiums.
Red Gerard (USA) has amassed the most podiums in the men’s field, with nine, including four wins.
Chris Corning (USA) and Marcus Kleveland (NOR) each have eight World Cup podium finishes. Corning has four wins, Kleveland has five wins.
QUICK LINKS
Flachau Slopestyle World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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