World Cup returns to Spindleruv Mlyn for Audi SnowJam slopestyle
Mar 17, 2022·Snowboard Park & Pipe
The 2021/22 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe season hits the homestretch over the next two weekends, beginning on Friday and Saturday this week when qualifications and then finals are going down at the Audi SnowJam slopestyle World Cup in Spindleruv Mlyn (CZE).
The penultimate event of this World Cup season, the Audi SnowJam is back for 2021/22 for the first time in five years, and the lone Czech stop on the tour is once again boasting one of the more original course designs we see on the World Cup, along with a strong field of riders on hand looking to make some moves on the World Cup standings.
Friday’s qualifications will begin with the men’s heat one and heat two in double-up format at 10:15 CET, followed by the women at 13:15. Saturday’s finals are slated for noon in Spindleruv Mlyn.
MURASE LOOKING TO LOCK DOWN A DOUBLE CRYSTAL GLOBE SEASON
On the women’s slopestyle standings it’s Laurie Blouin of Canada and Japan’s Kokomo Murase currently tied at the top of the leaderboard with 160 points, followed by Melissa Pepperkamp of the Netherlands in third with 126.
While Blouin won’t competing in Spindleruv Mlyn this week, Murase is indeed here, and as the current leader on both the slopestyle and the Park & Pipe overall standings, the 17-year-old should have plenty of motivation to throw down this weekend.
In fact, with a result of fourth-place or higher here at the Audi SnowJam, Murase will have done enough to lock down the women’s Park & Pipe overall crystal globe before competition even starts at the season’s final event in Silvaplana (SUI) next weekend. With podiums at both of her previous two slopestyle World Cups entered so far in 2021/22, it’s fair to expect Murase will meet that challenge here in Spindleruv Mlyn.
Despite Murase’s presence, the door is still very much open for Pepperkamp to have a shot at the crystal globe, and those hopes would get a boost with a big performance this weekend. The 17-year-old is seeking to become the first Dutch crystal globe winner since Cheryl Maas took the slopestyle, big air and Park & Pipe overall trophies back in 2015.
While Pepperkamp is looking strong after taking big air bronze and finishing fourth in slopestyle at last week’s Leysin (SUI) 2022 FIS Park & Pipe Junior World Championships, she’ll be in tough against some of the more experienced riders in the field.
After a second place finish two weeks ago in Bakuriani (GEO), Jasmine Baird (CAN) is currently sitting in eighth on the rankings with 94 points - still theoretically within striking distance of the crystal globe with two events to go. Showing a double underflip in her run in training and some slick rail combinations, Baird could very well challenge for top spot.
Just ahead of Baird on the rankings in seventh place with 97.00 points is Ariane Burri (SUI), who’s also been riding well in training, while the likes of Klaudia Medlova (SVK), Brooke Voigt (CAN) and Czechia’s own Sarka Pancochova could all make some noise in finals.
Finally, keep a close eye on Katie Ormerod (GBR). While the 2019/20 slopestyle crystal globe winner is currently sitting in 13th on the World Cup rankings with 82 points, in training she’s showed off what is perhaps the strongest run of any of the women on hand here for the Audi Snowjam. If she can put it down clean she could be on her way to her first career World Cup slopestyle victory.
HEAVY MEN’S FIELD FEATURES COLLINS, HENRICKSEN, WINKLEMANN, THORGREN
On the men’s side of things it’s Germany’s Leon Vockensperger leading the slopestyle standings with 182 points after taking the win Bakuriani, where he earned himself the yellow World Cup leader’s bib for the first time in his career.
However, Vockensperger and the rest of the top-6 ranked riders on the men’s slopestyle World Cup standings and not competing here in Spindleruv Mlyn, as post-Olympic injuries and other obligations have kept some riders away.
Seventh-ranked Tiarn Collins of New Zealand is here at the Audi SnowJam, however, and with 100 slopestyle points so far this season the crystal globe is definitely still on his radar if he comes through with a podium result this weekend.
Another southern-hemispherer with a shot at making a move on the slopestyle rankings this week is Valentino Guseli of Australia, as the 16-year-old halfpipe phenom made some noise two weeks ago in Bakuriani by very nearly taking the win - instead finishing just off top spot in second place for his first career World Cup podium. Guseli currently sits 11th on the slopestyle rankings and 10th on the Park & Pipe overall list.
The USA will be well-represented this weekend, with two of its very finest young riders leading the way in Dusty Henrickson and Luke Winkelmann.
19-year-old Henricksen has established himself as one of the smoothest, most stylish, and most deceptively technical riders in snowboarding over the past few seasons, earning his first World Cup win and Burton US Open second-place honours in 2020, before claiming X Games gold in 2021.
However, it’ been over a year now since Henricksen was on major slopestyle podium, and you know he’d like to make the trip Czechia worth it with a top-3 this week.
Then there’s Winkelmann, the 21-year-old who earned his first career World Cup podium back in January at the Calgary Snow Rodeo and currently sits 15th on the slopestyle rankings with 74 points. Henricksen and Winklemann have been running hot laps one-after-the-other all throughout training here at the Audi SnowJam and there’s few amongst the rest of the field who look like they can keep up with the US riders’ flow.
One rider who most certainly can hang with the US top dogs is Sweden’s Sven Thorgren, with this weekend’s Audi SnowJam standing as his first competition since a disappointing 24th-place finish at Beijing 2022. The bronze medal winner at January’s X Games slopestyle, Thorgren will be looking for a little post-Games edemption, as well as what would be just the second slopestyle World Cup podium of his career, almost 10 years after he scored his career’s first at this very venue back in 2013.
With Thorgren’s compatriot Niklas Mattsson also on hand, as well as Norwegians Markus Olimstad, Stian Kleivdal, Sindre Tveiten and Fritdjof Tischendorf, the Scandavians will be well-represented in Spindleruv.
Emiliano Lauzi leads a strong Italian contingent, and the 27-year-old is riding high after scoring a hugely impressive - and somewhat unexpected - fifth-place finish at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games back in February. One of the most straight-up most fun riders to watch in the world, Lauzi could be in the running for his first World Cup podium this week.
The Japanese team, with Ryoma Kimata, Ruki Tobita and up-and-comer Taiga Hasegawa, as well as the young Canadian squad boasting Liam Brearley, Francois Jobin and recently-crowned slopestyle Junior World Champion Cameron Spalding will also be ones to watch out for.
QUICK LINKS
Audi SnowJam slopestyle World Cup Spindleruv Mlyn official website
Livestream finals (with geo restrictions)
FIS data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
