Kreischberg World Cup Big Air proves there is no replacement for a real jump

THE WOMEN

Finally, unrestricted by the challenging conditions of a scaffold jump, the women were able to showcase their best riding this week. The extra confidence was apparent from the outset as current overall standings leader, Flora Tabanelli, came out swinging with a left double cork 1440 safety, setting the bar high and earning a mammoth 93.25. There have not been many 1440s from the women this year with the absence of Kirsty Muir and Tess Ledeux (and a lack of proper jumps), so it was exciting to see the young Italian stomping four full rotations. 

Next to drop, having not competed in almost two years, Lara Wolf proved that she has still got it, steezing a big right double cork 1080 safety for an 86.75. Daisy Thomas, Mengting Liu and Anni Karava also all stomped double cork 1080s with Anni’s mute scoring the highest – an 89.00. 

Celebrating her 34th birthday just a couple of days ago, comparative veteran Sarah Hoefflin tweaked the mute on her switch double cork 1080 to put herself in second place after run one with a 90.75.

Run Two:

Flora landed pretty heavily on a switch left bio 1080 mute only scoring her a 78.75 for the instability. Lara then showed her class and reminded everyone why we miss watching her compete by landing the nicest trick to watch of the night, a switch left bio 900 mute. She showed brilliant control, tweaking the mute behind her back and stomped with her feet perfectly together – with a little afterbang ride out for the culture. To the delight of the home crowd, it rightly got some love and scored an 86.50 to put her into first. Sarah could not land her double cork 1080 clean enough and Anni fumbled the grab slightly at the start of her switch 1080 lead tail and got docked for it – both would have to try again.

Run Three:

Daisy scared everyone by coming up short on a double cork 1080 and scorpioned down the landing – luckily she jumped up quickly with a smile as everyone breathed a sigh of relief – it was a nasty looking slam. Mengting then landed her opposite double 1080 for an 85.00, which bumped her into third place, forcing Anni Karava off the podium for the time being. 

Sarah could not keep her knuckle from dragging on the landing of a left double cork 1080 japan which scored her a 73.50 meaning she would not compete for the podium. Both her rotation and grab are really nice to watch and when she cleans it up it should score her really well.

Anni polished up her switch left 1080 lead tail and got rewarded an 84.50, moving her into first place with two riders to drop. Her face told the whole story and she was guaranteed her first World Cup podium. Once Anni had picked her jaw off the floor, Flora leap frogged her into first place after tidying up her switch left bio 1080 mute, scoring an 82.25.

Lara Wolf dropped in last as Swatch Nines founder and on-site MC, Nico Zacek hyped up the Austrian crowd. Having just been pushed down into third, Lara seemingly tried to get as close to her adoring fans as possible, going massive on a right double cork 1080 safety. Opening up slightly at the end of her trick meant she could not improve her score, keeping her in third place – not bad for a retired contest skier.

Junior World Champion, Youth Olympic Games Champion and now World cup winner – Flora Tabanelli has a very bright future. She has been on the podium in every Big Air contest this year but this is her first win – and definitely not her last. 

Final Women’s Podium: Flora Tabanelli in first place, Anni Karava in second and Lara Wolf in third.

THE MEN

Run One:

Vebjoern Graaberg set the tone and gave the judges a useful anchor score with a pretty flawless left nose butter triple cork 1620 safety for an 84.00. This score might seem low but the judges use this as a range-finder to compare to all the other tricks on the night. It is possible that every rider does a better trick than this, therefore the judges need to have space to rank them above this score. If the judges were to give the first trick a 90.00, they are gambling that there will only be a maximum of 10 tricks better than that. The scores themselves are mostly just a tool to rank the riders and the same tricks will not score the same across different contests.

Andri Ragettli was the first rider to break into the 90s with a switch left double bio 1620 buick. Some have the opinion that this is an ugly grab, with the body contorted into a strange position, however what you cannot argue is that it is not objectively seriously difficult. The judges understand this and hooked Andri up with a 90.00.

Elias Syrja continued with his alternative approach, stomping a switch left tail butter cork 360 safety. To the uninitiated this might seem to be a low rotation therefore low difficulty, but the tail butter element and the way Elias blocks the rotation before rotating to 540, means this trick can be compared to 1620s and above. In this case, the judges directly compared it to Vebjoern’s triple 16 and awarded it higher – an 85.25 which will have pleased anyone who likes to see the creative side of the sport given space in these FIS Big Air contests – a credit to the culture and the communication between riders and judges.

Norwegian Leo Landroe dropped next going one better, stomping a switch triple cork 1620 mute for an 88.50. Last week’s winner Luca Harrington took “Big Air” quite literally and sent his switch right triple cork 1620 esco – which takes its name from Pablo Escobar – all the way to the bottom of the landing. Executed just as well as last week, there was only one place that the trick was going to go, first place – 95.75. Tormod Frostad, who missed out on finals last week, perfectly executed his frighteningly hard switch right tail butter 1440 japan. As discussed when he unveiled it in Chur, this trick is as scary as it is difficult and scored a 93.75.

Run Two:

Tim Sivignon perfectly demonstrated why buttering off the take-off gets rewarded so highly by the judges. He set the nose butter, caught his edge, lost his ski and was flung through the air like a cat out of a window. Thankfully, just like a cat, Tim managed to land on his feet – remarking to the camera at the bottom that he was stoked to be alive. A terrifying crash and a reminder of the consequences of getting the butters wrong.

Andri was stoked to put down his left 1980 cuban and was understandably pretty miffed when the score eventually came through as an 83.00. The judges closely watched the replay a few times and came to the conclusion that Andri wristed the grab and never actually got his hand locked around the ski. It still put him up into first place with two landed runs.

Elias then added to his switch 360 with a left nose butter double cork 1620 pulling his safety out to the side, scoring an 86.75 and going into second. Matej then lit up the Austrian crowd with a switch left tail butter 1800 safety jumping into first place with a 90.50. Kiwi Luca, who was looking to go back-to-back World Cup wins, put himself all but out of touch scoring a 92.00 for right triple cork 1800 safety. The reason Luca is being hooked up by the judges isn’t just because of his amplitude or the difficulty of his rotations, it is the length and quality of his grabs. Although this trick is “just” a safety, Luca is tweaking it out to the side and holding it for around 1440 degrees of his rotation – you can not fault it. 

Carving like a giant slalom skier, Tormod wound himself into a carved right triple cork 1620 safety but could not hold onto the rotation, washing out in the landing. Miro also had some landing instability and could not push himself up the rankings.

Run Three:

Elias pulled his switch tail butter 360 back from further over-shifty than the first one and improved his score to an 87.25, putting him ahead of Andri and into fourth. In response, Andri did his best salmon impression, ending up caught in the nets at the side of the course after over-rotating his double 1980 – not his day.

Leo then cleaned up his left triple cork 1800 ripped mute and boosted up into second place above Matej with a 90.00. You are never safe if Matej is still to drop and like he has done so many times this season, he absolutely laced a left nose butter triple cork safety. The way he is landing these is dripping with style and control – the definition of bolts. It was enough to put him back into second but not enough to overtake the out-of-reach Luca Harrington. For the second time in six days Luca had the honour of a victory lap. Another double backy and another 42.00 score from the judges left everyone extremely happy. 

Luca will hope he can ride this wave all the way to a Crystal Globe win as he takes a commanding lead at the top of the overall standings. The rest of the field however, with only two contests left, will hope they can change the tide in their favour and reel the Kiwi in.

Next up, Aspen at the end of the month.

Final Men’s Podium: first place Luca Harrington, second Matej Svancer and third place Leo Landroe.