Excitement builds for first Freeski Big Air World Cup of the 2025/26 season
Nov 26, 2025·Freeski Park & Pipe)
The first Big Air event of the 2025/26 FIS Freeski Park & Pipe World Cup season is set to begin in China’s Secret Garden on Friday with World Cup skiers looking to lock down their spots for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games next year.
Secret Garden marks the second stop of this year's Freeski Park & Pipe circuit after the Slopestyle World cup in Stubai (AUT) last week officially kicked off the 2025/26 season. While Secret Garden has hosted World Cup competitions in nearly every other competition under the Snowboard, Freestyle, and Freeski umbrella, this is the first time the Chinese resort is hosting a Big Air World Cup competition.
Proceedings in Secret Garden will begin with women’s qualifications from 9:10 China Standard Time (CST) on Friday. The women’s field of 27 is led by Swiss skier Mathilde Gremaud, who claimed her first victory of the season in Stubai based on qualification results after high winds forced the cancellation of the final day of competition. Gremaud also won the Big Air season opener in Chur (SUI) last year before injuries marred the rest of her 2024/25 season.
Gremaud is joined by fellow Swiss skier Sarah Hoefflin, who missed out on a finals berth in Stubai last week. The 34-year-old has never won a Big Air World Cup but claimed silver at the Engadin 2025 FIS Freeski World Championships in March behind Italy’s Flora Tabanelli, who is missing the start of the 2025/26 season due to an ACL injury. Hoefflin’s Big Air performances last season ranged from second in Beijing (CHN), to failing to qualify for the finals in Chur and Tignes with 11th and 22nd place respectively.
Finland’s Anni Karava comes to Secret Garden fresh off her third-place finish in Stubai. Last season Karava shared the Big Air podium with Tabanelli on three occasions, but with Tabanelli out of action and French ace Tess Ledeux also missing the start of the new season, there is ample opportunity for Karava to claim her first World Cup career victory in Secret Garden.
China’s Liu Mengting will be hoping for home snow advantage in Secret Garden to help shake off her 14th place Slopestyle performance in Stubai last week. The 21-year-old claimed her first World Cup victory last season at Big Air Klagenfurt (AUT) ahead of eventual Crystal Globe winner Tabanelli. Liu also won Big Air gold at the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games.
Other contenders in the women’s field include Muriel Mohr (GER) who claimed two third-place finishes last season in Chur and Klagenfurt, each time behind Tabanelli. The 19-year-old German was a finalist in all but one of her six Big Air starts last World Cup season, and a finalist in all but one of her four Slopestyle starts.
Leading the men's field of 58 skiers in Secret Garden is Big Air World Champion and last season's Big Air Crystal Globe winner Luca Harrington (NZL). The 21-year-old claimed his first Globe after finishing on the Big Air World Cup podium four times last season, including back-to-back wins in Austria at Klagenfurt and Kreischberg. Harrington also won gold in Slopestyle and silver in Big Air at his X Games debut in 2025. Like many of his peers in the men's field, Harrington was in Stubai last week ready to contest the first Slopestyle World Cup of the season but the men's event was cancelled due to high winds.
With an Olympic Winter Games on home snow and his younger sister sidelined by an ACL injury, Miro Tabanelli will be carrying the bulk of Italy's Freeski medal hopes as he begins his 2025/26 season in Secret Garden. The 20-year-old ended the previous season with a maiden World Cup victory in Tignes (FRA) to join Flora atop the podium as the first brother-sister duo in FIS Freeski history to record wins at the same World Cup. Miro also made his mark on the 2025 X Games by becoming the first freeskier to land a 2340 in competition on his way to winning Big Air gold in his debut X Games.
Two-time Slopestyle World Champion and reigning Olympic Big Air champion Birk Ruud and Tormod Frostad are among six Norwegians in the men's field at Secret Garden. Frostad was runner-up at last season’s Big Air opener in Chur, then won Big Air Beijing by beating Miro Tabanelli by 0.75 points. After a 2024/25 season of mixed performances following an ankle injury, Ruud managed to turn things around and claim a second Slopestyle title at the Engadin 2025 FIS Freeski World Championships, as well as Big Air bronze behind runner-up Elias Syrja (FIN) and gold medalist Harrington.
Mac Forehand (USA) finished fourth behind Ruud in Engadin just days after he was runner-up to Ruud in Slopestyle. The 24-year-old American claimed third place at last season’s Big Air finale in Tignes, and qualified for the final in all three of his Big Air World Cup starts. Forehand is one of six U.S. skiers – alongside Troy Podmilsak, Konnor Ralph, Hunter Henderson and Cody Laplante – all hoping to put in solid performances at Secret Garden, the first of three Big Air World Cup qualifying events for Milano Cortina 2026.
Other names to watch include Canada’s Dylan Deschamps, who claimed two third-place finishes last season in Chur and Beijing, and France’s Timothe Sivignon. The 22-year-old Frenchman was runner-up at Klagenfurt last season, his second World Cup career podium since 2022.
The top 10 skiers from men's qualifications and top eight from women’s qualifications will progress to the finals on Sunday 30 November beginning at 12:30 CST.
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