Olympic spots, Crystal Globe on the line as Anderson makes World Cup comeback in Steamboat
Dec 10, 2025·Snowboard Park & Pipe)
Two-time Olympic champion and U.S. snowboarding icon Jamie Anderson is making her much anticipated World Cup comeback at this week’s Big Air World Cup season finale in Steamboat (USA).
On top of Anderson’s return and deciding the discipline’s Crystal Globe winners, the Steamboat World Cup is also the last Big Air qualifying event before the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
Competition in Steamboat begins on Friday 12 December with men’s qualifications at 9:20 Mountain Standard Time (MST), followed by women’s qualifications from 13:50 MST.
Two-time Olympic Slopestyle gold medalist Anderson is one of seven U.S. snowboarders in the women’s field of 30. The 35-year-old is chasing her fourth Olympic Winter Games after winning the inaugural women’s Slopestyle competition at the Sochi 2014 Games, followed by a second consecutive Slopestyle gold and silver in Big Air at the PyeongChang 2018 Games. Anderson has not competed on the World Cup circuit since 2022 when she qualified for the Beijing 2022 Games where she finished ninth in Slopestyle and did not qualify for the Olympic Big Air final.
Another U.S. snowboarder to watch in Steamboat is Lily Dhawornvej. The 16-year-old will be aiming to improve on her ninth and eighth-place finishes in Beijing and Secret Garden respectively. In her debut 2024/25 season, Dhawornvej finished fourth in Aspen and qualified for four finals out of eight World Cup starts across Big Air and Slopestyle.
Japan is fielding a smaller delegation in Steamboat after sweeping the women’s podium at the Big Air Season opener in Secret Garden. Miyabi Onitsuka, who was third in Secret Garden behind winner Mari Fukada and runner-up Reira Iwabuchi, is the only rider from the Secret Garden podium competing in Steamboat. Onitsuka currently sits atop the women’s Big Air standings on 105 points. The 27-year-old is joined by Yura Murase and Momo Suzuki, who was third behind Austria’s Hanna Karrer last week in Beijing. Karrer is the only female snowboarder from Austria competing in Steamboat as two-time Olympic Big Air champion Anna Gasser continues to recover from a shoulder injury. Last week’s winner in Beijing, Mia Brookes (GBR), is also missing the Steamboat World Cup.
The men’s field of 59 features 17 U.S. snowboarders, including PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Slopestyle champion Red Gerard and up-and-comer Oliver Martin. Now 17, Martin was 16 when he claimed bronze in Big Air and Slopestyle at the 2025 World Championships after an impressive debut World Cup season in which he won the Slopestyle World Cup season finale in Calgary (CAN) ahead of runner-up Gerard. Last season Gerard’s best Big Air World Cup result was fifth in Aspen, on top of his two Slopestyle second-place finishes at the Laax and Calgary World Cup events.
Home snow advantage could also prove crucial for U.S. snowboarders Brooklyn Depriest and Judd Henkes this week after they finished fifth and sixth respectively in Secret Garden. The battle for the remaining Olympic spots on the stacked U.S. team will be a tough one, with Gerard so far the only confirmed rider for the team. With Steamboat acting as a designated qualifying event for the U.S. team according to their own internal selection process, expect the U.S. riders on hand to be putting it all on the line in the coming days.
Leading the Canadian delegation in Steamboat this week is 2024/25 Slopestyle Crystal Globe winner Cameron Spalding. Last season the 20-year-old claimed two Slopestyle victories but his best Big Air result was 14th in Beijing.
Spalding is joined by 24-time X Games medalist Mark McMorris as the 32-year-old triple Olympic Slopestyle bronze medalist pursues his fourth Games. McMorris faces an uphill battle for Olympic qualification after he began his 2025/26 season with 35th place at the Big Air season opener in Secret Garden, followed by 27th place in Beijing last week.
After recording two consecutive World Cup victories on home snow in Secret Garden and Beijing, reigning Olympic Big Air champion Su Yiming is not competing in Steamboat. Su currently leads the men’s Big Air standings on 200 points after two victories.
Trailing Su on 112 points is Chinese team-mate and Secret Garden runner-up Ge Chunyu, who comes to Steamboat looking to improve on his eighth place finish in Beijing. Meanwhile, fellow Chinese snowboarder Yang Wenlong will need to dig deep in Steamboat to deliver the type of performance that netted him a maiden World Cup victory in Kreischberg in 2024.
Japan’s Kira Kimura was runner-up to Su in Beijing last week after opening his 2025/26 season with ninth place in Secret Garden. Kimura is one of six Japanese riders in the men’s field alongside reigning big air World Champion Ryoma Kimata, Yuto Miyamura, Yuto Kimura, Hiroaki Kunitake and 2025 X Games gold medalist Hiroto Ogiwara.
After winning X Games gold with the first 2340 landed in competition last season, 20-year-old Ogiwara has started slowly in 2025/26, finishing 19th at Beijing and 27th in Secret Garden. Yuto Miyamura, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on a podium spot in Beijing with fourth place. Miyamura’s only top-three result on the World Cup circuit was third in Aspen in February.
Finland’s Rene Rinnekangas comes to Steamboat buoyed by his well-deserved third place in Beijing, his second World Cup career podium after he was runner-up in Chur in 2021. The 26-year-old recorded the highest-scored run during last week’s final in Beijing after the judges awarded him 95.00 for his nosebutter backside rodeo 1440 tailgrab. Rinnekangas' high-scoring first run in the final was also the first time the trick had been landed in competition.
The top eight women and top 10 men from Friday’s qualifications will progress to the finals on Saturday 13 Dec.
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