Slopestyle World Cup ramps back up for a Spring Battle in Flachau

Austrian snowboard icon Anna Gasser is set to compete at a home snow World Cup for what may be the final time at this week’s Flachau Slopestyle World Cup as the 2025/26 FIS Park and Pipe season resumes after the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Two-time Olympic Big Air champion Gasser is among a field of 26 women who will drop into Flachau’s Absolut Park on Thursday 19 March when women’s qualifications begin at 10:15 local time

This week’s Slopestyle World Cups marks the third event of the 2025/26 FIS Slopestyle World Cup season after the Laax Open in January, and it marks the second time that FIS Park & Pipe World Cup action will take place as part of Flachau’s legendary Spring Battle session.

Absolut Park Flachauwinkl is Gasser’s local training ground and has a long history of hosting FIS events as well as its independent and innovative Spring Battle competition, but it was only in 2025 that the venue hosted a FIS Snowboard Park and Pipe World Cup event.

Gasser comes to Flachau after competing at her fourth and likely final Olympic Winter Games at Milano Cortina 2026 in February. The 34-year-old finished 10th in the Slopestyle final and eighth in the Big Air final in what the Austrian has suggested will be her last competitive season.

Prior to the Games, Gasser was third at the Laax Open behind runner-up Lily Dhawornvej (USA) and winner Kokomo Murase (JPN).

Sixteen-year-old Dhawornvej recently topped the Slopestyle field at the FIS Junior World Championships in Calgary (CAN) in late February after making her Olympic Winter Games debut at Milano Cortina 2026.

The U.S. teenager will be joined in Flachau by team-mate Jessica Perlmutter, who claimed Slopestyle bronze at the Junior World Championships in Calgary a couple weeks ago.

Sixteen-year-old Perlmutter also finished just outside of the Olympic Slopestyle top five in sixth place.

Last year’s overall women’s Park and Pipe Crystal Globe winner Mia Brookes (GBR) will also resume competition in Flachau after the 19-year-old did not qualify for the Olympic Slopestyle final in Italy and finished fourth in Big Air.

While none of the Milano Cortina 2026 women’s Slopestyle medalists are competing in Flachau – gold medalist Mari Fukada (JPN), silver medalist Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), or bronze medalist Kokomo Murase (JPN) – many eyes will be on riders such as Annika Morgan (GER) after she finished just outside the Olympic Slopestyle podium in fourth place.

Beijing 2022 Slopestyle bronze medalist Tess Coady will also be keen to better her 27th place finish at Milano Cortina 2026 in Flachau and is joined by Australian team-mates Meila Stalker and Jess McGregor.

In the men’s event, the USA’s Jake Canter is the only Milano Cortina 2026 Slopestyle medalist among the men’s field of 63 who will compete in Flachau when men’s qualifications begin on Friday 20 March.

Canter secured bronze in Italy behind silver medalist and last year’s overall Park and Pipe Crystal Globe winner Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) and gold medalist Su Yiming (CHN), who added the Slopestyle title to his Beijing 2022 Big Air gold medal win.

Su currently leads the Slopestyle standings on 140 points, followed by Yuto Kimura (JPN) on 109 points. The 17-year-old comes to Flachau after he won the 2026 Asian Cup in early March and claimed his maiden World Cup podium at the Laax Open in January with second place.

France’s Romain Allemand was the victor ahead of Kimura in Laax in what was the 19-year-old French rider’s career first World Cup victory. Allemand comes to Flachau after the teenager was fifth in Olympic Slopestyle at Milano Cortina 2026.

Other names to look out for in men’s Slopestyle include last year’s Crystal Globe winner Cameron Spalding (CAN) and Valentino Guseli (AUS), the Park & Pipe triple-threat who is in the hunt for a second career P&P Overall Crystal globe. With 370 points, Guseli sits just 26 points behind Halfpipe specialist Yuto Totsuka on the Overall rankings.

Spalding is yet to record a top-three result this season after winning two World Cup events in his Crystal Globe-winning 2024/25 season. The 20-year-old also finished 10th in Slopestyle at Milano Cortina 2026, which were his first Olympic Winter Games.

Guseli, on the other hand, has recorded four podium places in 2025/26, all in Halfpipe, including his third career World Cup victory in Calgary in January. The 20-year-old Australia’s best result in Slopestyle this season was 17th place at the Laax Open in January. Guseli did not contest Slopestyle at Milano Cortina 2026, and finished fifth in Halfpipe and 10th in Big Air in Italy.

The top 10 women and top 14 men from qualifications will progress to the finals on Saturday 21 March.

QUICK LINKS

• Flachau Slopestyle World Cup data page (start lists, live scoring)

• 2025/26 FIS Slopestyle World Cup standings

• Full 2025/26 FIS Park & Pipe World Cup calendar

• FIS TV