Home snow advantage looms large at Beijing Big Air World Cup
Dec 02, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Home snow advantage could prove crucial for the second Big Air World Cup of the 2025/26 season as snowboarders head to the iconic Beijing 2022 Olympic Big Air jump at Shougang Industrial Heritage Park this week.
A field of almost 100 riders will drop in on the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games Big Air venue when qualifications start on Friday 5 December, beginning with the women’s event at 10:20 China Standard Time (CST). Men's qualifications begin at 13:40 CST.
All eyes will be on Beijing 2022 Big Air gold medalist Su Yiming after he won last week’s season opener in Secret Garden to secure his first World Cup victory in two years. Before last week’s result, it was in Beijing in 2023 that Su last stood atop a World Cup podium.
Compatriot Ge Chunyu shared the podium with Su last week, with the 19-year-old claiming his first World Cup podium with a second place finish in what was his first finals appearance since making his World Cup debut last season. The 2025 Big Air World Champion Ryoma Kimata of Japan finished third.
Also joining Su and Ge in Beijing is team-mate Yang Wenlong, who claimed his first World Cup career podium here in 2024 with third place. Yang also competed last week in Secret Garden but did not qualify for the final.
The winner at last year’s edition, Hiroto Ogiwara (JPN), and runner-up Ian Matteoli (ITA) will be keen to emulate last season's success this week after both failed to qualify for finals in Secret Garden.
Last season’s Big Air and overall Park & Pipe Crystal Globe winner Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) will also be aiming for a top-three finish at Shougang park this week after he finished eighth in Secret Garden. Hasegawa has never finished within the top-three in Beijing, and the discipline Globe winner’s ninth place at this venue in 2024 was his worst Big Air result from five events. In 2023 Hasegawa came close to a podium finish in Beijing with fourth place.
Other noteworthy names in the men’s field of 65 are Beijing 2022 Big Air silver medalist Mons Roisland (NOR), innovative 17-year-old Eli Bouchard (CAN), and 24-time X Games medalist Mark McMorris (CAN).
After claiming his first World Cup victory in Aspen last season, Bouchard finished fourth in Secret Garden last week despite qualifying in top spot. Meanwhile, fellow Canadian McMorris has not competed in Beijing since he finished 10th in Big Air at the Beijing 2022 Games. Prior to that, McMorris topped the Beijing World Cup in 2017 when the competition took place on a scaffold jump in the Bird’s Nest Stadium. Austria’s Clemens Millauer previously finished third in Beijing in 2018, and was sixth at the 2024 edition.
Among the women’s field of 33 in Beijing is last season’s Big Air and women’s Park & Pipe Globe winner Mia Brookes (GBR). The 18-year-old is set to make her 2025/26 season debut after sitting out last weekend’s competition in Secret Garden, and comes into this week’s competition with podiums in six out of 10 career Big Air World Cup starts.
Teenager Mari Fukada (JPN) returns to Beijing after she was runner-up behind Brookes here last season. The 18-year-old started the 2025/26 campaign by leading Japan’s podium sweep in Secret Garden.
Fukada will be joined by last week’s runner-up Reira Iwabuchi and third-placed Miyabi Onitsuka, who previously topped the Beijing podium in 2019. The 27-year-old’s Beijing record also includes third place in 2023, and second place in 2017 and 2018.
Beijing 2022 Slopestyle bronze medalist Tess Coady (AUS) finished fourth in Secret Garden but the top-five finish was a promising return to competition for the 25-year-old. Last season Coady contested just two World Cup events as she recovered from a shoulder injury. Fellow Australian Meila Stalker, 21, was fifth behind Coady in what was her first Big Air final since her World Cup debut in 2023, while 16-year-old Ally Hickman (AUS) finished seventh in her first final.
The top eight women and top 10 men from Friday’s qualifications will qualify for the night-time finals on Saturday 6 December beginning at 18:00 CST.
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