Gasser sets sights on Slopestyle in Laax as snowboarders tackle last World Cup before Milano Cortina
Jan 15, 2026·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Two-time Olympic Big Air gold medalist Anna Gasser (AUT) is set to compete at the Slopestyle World Cup in Laax (SUI) this week in her first event since recovering from a shoulder injury.
The 34-year-old is among 95 riders who will drop into the world-famous Laax slopestyle course when competition begins on Friday 16 January.
The Laax Open is the second Slopestyle World Cup of the 2025/26 FIS Park & Pipe season following the discipline’s season opener in Aspen last weekend. It is also the last World Cup event before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games coming up in February, before the World Cup tour resumes in March.
Gasser, a two-time Big Air World Champion, missed the start of the Big Air World Cup season in November as she focused on recovering from a dislocated shoulder she sustained while surfing during the off-season.
Laax will be Gasser’s first World Cup start since the double Olympic champion finished fourth at last year’s edition. It was the first time since 2022 that Gasser had not finished on the Laax podium, after previously claiming runner-up honors and two third-place finishes in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively. Gasser was also runner-up at her very first Laax competition in 2017.
Last season’s Laax winner Mia Brookes is also returning to competition this week after winning Big Air Beijing in December and skipping the Slopestyle season opener last week in Aspen.
The 18-year-old will be hoping to add a second victory to her current season in the lead-up to Milano Cortina 2026.
Reigning women’s Slopestyle World Champion and last season’s Laax runner-up Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is not competing this year. The defending Olympic Slopestyle champion has not competed in any World Cup events this season and will arrive in Italy with fresh legs for her third Games.
Meanwhile, Kokomo Murase is among five Japanese women who are all capable of landing a top-three finish in Laax this week. Murase was third here behind Brookes and Sadowski-Synnott last year and the 21-year-old comes to Laax after she was third in Aspen last week behind teammate Mari Fukada. The 19-year-old’s Aspen performance marked her second podium of the season after leading a Japanese Big Air podium sweep in Secret Garden.
Murase’s podium mates from Secret Garden – runner-up Reira Iwabuchi and third-placed Miyabi Onitsuka – are also among the field of 35 women in Laax. Onitsuka will be especially keen to bounce back from her 27th place in Aspen after she ended the year by winning the Big Air World Cup in Steamboat (USA).
U.S. snowboarding icon and two-time Olympic Slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson may also compete in Laax after the 35-year-old finished at the bottom of the eight-woman final in Aspen.
A top-five finish in Laax would help Anderson qualify for her fourth Games and a chance to add to her gold medals from the Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Games, and her Big Air silver medal from PyeongChang. However, Anderson suffered a heavy crash in her first run of finals in Aspen last weekend and did not take her second. While her name remains on the Laax startlist, her status for Friday’s qualifications remains undetermined.
In the men’s field of 60, defending Olympic Big Air champion Su Yiming (CHN) will be hoping to improve on his second-place finish in Aspen last week and secure a third victory this season. The 21-year-old won this season’s Big Air Crystal Globe after back-to-back victories on home snow in China in December. Su’s streak of podium performances this season follows a difficult 2024/25 World Cup season in which he managed one second-place finish from eight starts before securing silver in Slopestyle at the Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships.
Just behind Su with bronze in Engadin was U.S. teenager Oliver Martin. Last year the 17-year-old ended his debut World Cup season with a Slopestyle victory at the discipline’s season finale in Calgary (CAN), followed by bronze medals in Slopestyle and Big Air at Engadin 2025. Martin began his 2025/26 season with third place in Big Air on home snow in Aspen just before the Christmas break but finished 44th last week at Aspen’s Snowmass resort. Teammate Justus Henkes was fourth and the only U.S. rider to finish within the top five last week, with PyeongChang 2018 Slopestyle champion Red Gerard in sixth.
Along with Aspen winner Jake Canter, Gerard has already qualified for Milano Cortina, which means that Henkes and Martin are among seven U.S. men in Laax hoping to secure one of two remaining Olympic Slopestyle spots on Team USA.
Former Big Air World Champion Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) and current Big Air World Champion Ryoma Kimata (JPN) are among six Japanese men aiming for a top-three finish in Laax. After winning last season’s Big Air and overall Park & Pipe Crystal Globe trophies, Hasegawa is yet to secure a podium in the 2025/26 season - although he came close at the Big Air season opener in Secret Garden with fourth place. Kimata claimed third place ahead of Hasegawa there in Secret Garden, but began his Slopestyle season in Aspen with a 30th place finish, while Hasegawa was 33rd.
Other noteworthy names in the men’s field in Laax are Norway’s Marcus Kleveland, who won the 2023 edition of the Laax Open, and the USA’s Sean FitzSimons who won the 2022 edition before Kleveland. Laax will be Kleveland’s first Slopestyle start of the season, while Fitzsimons was 15th in Aspen last week.
Slopestyle competition in Laax will begin with qualifications on Friday 16 January from 9:45 Central European Time (CET). The top 24 men will progress to semifinals on Saturday, followed by finals for the top 12 men and top 10 women on Sunday 18 January from 13:15 CET.
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