Laax Open set for slopestyle and halfpipe World Cups
Jan 15, 2019·Snowboard Park & Pipe
Laax (SUI) - One of the biggest weekends of the 2018/19 FIS Snowboard park & pipe World Cup competition season is upon us, as a stacked field of the world’s best slopestyle and halfpipe riders has descended upon Laax (SUI) for one of snowboarding’s premier events, the Laax Open.
This year marks the fourth season of the Laax Open in its current form, though the resort has been a host of memorable top-level competition dating all the way back to 1993.
After the first couple of days of the programme in Laax were cancelled due to a massive snow system covering much of the Alps which dumped over a metre of snow on the resort from Saturday to Monday, the riders finally got into both the slopestyle course and the haflpipe for training under mostly sunny skies on Tuesday.
With the two days lost as a result of the weather and a mixed forecast for the upcoming days, a variety of formats are still possible for qualification and semifinal rounds at Laax. However, the programme for Wednesday has been set, with men’s slopestyle qualifiers beginning at 10:45. Wednesday’s scheduled ladies’ qualifications, meanwhile, have been replaced with a practice session, with all 22 entered ladies’ now automatically pushed through to Thursday’s semifinals.
Halfpiep qualifications also begin on Wednesday, with the ladies' kicking things off at 9:50CET, followed by heat two of the men at 11:50, and heat two at 13:40.
The scheduled finals programme remains the same, with slopestyle finals slated to begin on Friday, January 18, at 12:00CET, and halfpipe finals going down at night for just the second time in the 26-years of competition at Laax, taking place under the lights on Saturday, January 19 beginning at 17:30. Both slopestyle and halfpipe will see 12 men and six ladies competing in the finals.
Slopestyle
Reading the ladies’ and men’s entry lists for both the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions is like reading a who’s-who list of Olympic, World, X Games, and World Cup winners, along with some of the brightest up-and-coming stars in snowboarding.
Ladies’ slopestyle will be highlighted by the likes of Anna Gasser (AUT), Laurie Blouin (CAN), Enni Rukajarvi (FIN), Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), Spencer O’Brien (CAN), Silje Norendal (NOR), and a slew of others, with really only PyeongChang 2018 Olympic slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson (USA) and current World Cup leader Miyabi Onitsuka noticeably missing from the start list.
While the absence of Canadian top gunners Mark McMorris and Max Parrot, Olympic slopestyle champ Red Gerrard (USA), the injured Markus Kleveland (NOR), and World Cup leader Takeru Otsuka (JPN) will be noticed on the men’s side, the caliber of those who are indeed on hand should more than make up for those missing.
The men’s slopesyle entry list includes competitors Staale Sandbach (NOR), Sven Thorgren (SWE), Chris Corning (USA), Seppe Smits (BEL), Darcy Sharpe (CAN), Rene Renekangas (FIN) and many more, with a collection of names as long as it is varied. Seeing all of the different riding styles and personalities on display on Laax’s exceptional slopestyle course should make for can’t-miss viewing all the way through qualifiers, semifinals, and finals runs.
Halfpipe
While last season’s slopestyle competition was cancelled due to similar weather to what we saw in Laax earlier this week, halfpipe competition was able to go down at the 2018 Laax Open, and the Chinese ladies’ on hand made a statement by taking three of the top-4 positions in the final rankings with Liu Jiayu and Cai Xuetong going 1-2, respectively. While Liu won’t be entering competition in Laax this season, Cai will be on hand and looking to add her third podium in three tries since the Open became a World Cup competition. However, it’s not going to be an easy task for the two-time world champion Cai, as this season’s ladies’ halfpipe roster is significantly heavier than last’s.
Looming largest amongst this season’s entries is Chloe Kim (USA), who will be joined by several of her US teammates, including Maddie Mastro and Arielle Gold, while the likes of Queralt Castellet (ESP), Haruna Matsumoto and Kurumi Imai of Japan, and Verena Rohrer (SUI) all pose a podium threat this weekend, as well.
For the halfpipe men’s competition, Australia’s Scotty James comes into Laax as the odds-on favourite after winning the season-opener in Copper Mountain, as well as the adapted pipe competition at Dew Tour. However, the likes of Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI), Yuto Totsuka (JPN), Jan Scherrer (SUI), Ruka Hirano (JPN), Chase Josey (USA) and several others could all have something to say about that by competition’s end.
As mentioned, live streaming will be available for both Friday’s slopestyle finals and Saturday’s halfpipe finals at the Laax Open FIS Snowboard World Cup, HERE.
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