Halfpipe heavyweights gather in Secret Garden for World Cup season opener
Dec 09, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
The world's top halfpipe snowboarders are days away from beginning their 2025/26 FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe World Cup campaign in China's Secret Garden for the first of a whopping seven events this season - with the first five of those competitions serving as key qualifying events for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games beginning in February.
Leading the men's field of 36 athletes into Secret Garden this week will be four-time World Champion Scotty James (AUS). The 31-year-old begins his 2025/26 campaign an off-season removed from winning gold at the Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard World Championships in March. The win marked James’ record fourth World Championships title after he won three consecutive editions in 2015, 2017 and 2019. It also capped off a 2024/25 World Cup season in which James won the Laax Open for a fourth time. At last season's Secret Garden World Cup, James finished second after previously winning the event in 2023 and 2019.
Last year’s Secret Garden winner Yuto Totsuka (JPN) is among seven men from the powerhouse Japanese team competing in this week’s season opener. Totsuka claimed bronze at the 2025 World Championships behind silver medalist Ruka Hirano, who won last season’s Halfpipe Crystal Globe for a third year in a row. Ruka Hirano was also part of Japan’s two podium sweeps last season in Copper and Aspen alongside reigning Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano. Team-mate Ryusei Yamada was third in Aspen as well as third behind James in Secret Garden last year.
Each one of the Japanese riders listed above represent podium potential for the Japanese team this weekend, but Ayumu Hirano, Totsuka and Yamada come into this week’s World Cup competition with a little extra momentum after sweeping the podium for Japan at last weekend’s Snow League competition in Secret Garden.
Outside of James and the Japanese squad, look to New Zealand’s Campbell Melville Ives to be in the mix this week. The 19-year-old narrowly missed out on the podium twice last season with fourth place in Cardrona (NZL) and Calgary (CAN), and also finished fifth at the Engadin 2025 World Championships and then went on to win the European Cup at that came Corvatsch venue.
Germany’s Christoph Lechner finished fourth at the 2025 World Championships after a World Cup season in which his best result was 16th in Copper. The 25-year-old has since stepped onto the podium a further two times with second place at the European Cup in Kitzsteinhorn (AUT) and Corvatsch respectively.
In the women’s event, reigning Olympic champion Chloe Kim (USA) and team-mate Maddie Mastro are not competing in Secret Garden, as with the rest of the U.S. team. Many eyes will be on China’s very own Cai Xuetong, who was second in Secret Garden in 2024 behind Mastro. Cai’s record at Secret Garden includes wins in 2018 and 2023, and three top-three finishes in 2017, 2019 and 2024. With another victory this season, the 32-year-old would tie Tricia Byrnes (USA) for the most all-time FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe victories at 15 — a record which has stood for nearly 24 years.
Cai is one of eight Chinese women in the women’s field. Team-mate Wu Shaotong finished sixth in Secret Garden last year, and her career top-three finishes include bronze at the Harbin 2025 Asian Winter Games, and second at the Laax Open in 2023.
Leading the Japanese women’s team in Secret Garden is two-time Crystal Globe winner Mitsuki Ono. The 21-year-old claimed bronze at the 2025 World Championships after a World Cup season where she finished third in Copper, one spot ahead of Chloe Kim. Ono also finished fourth in Secret Garden in 2024. Ono is joined by fellow Japanese riders Rise Kudo and Sena Tomita, who finished fourth and fifth respectively at the 2025 World Championships to give Japan four of the women’s top five placings. More recently, Ono finished second at last weekend’s Snow League event, followed up in third by 16-year-old Kudo.
Gaon Choi (KOR) comes to Secret Garden after two podium finishes among her World Cup performances last season: third in Laax, and runner-up to Chloe Kim in Aspen. The 17-year-old was also the second-highest qualifier behind mentor Chloe Kim at the 2025 World Championships but ultimately finished 12th in the final. Choi will be hoping to start the 2025/26 season with the same energy that saw her become the youngest X Games gold medalist in 2023 as a 14-year-old.
The Secret Garden Halfpipe World Cup will begin with women’s qualifications on Wednesday 10 December from 9:10 China Standard Time (CST), followed by men’s qualifications at 11:25 CST.
The top 10 women and top 14 men from qualifications will progress to the finals on Friday 12 December.
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