The third FIS World Cup Big Air of the season and first of 2025 is going down this Saturday in Klagenfurt’s Wörthersee Stadium. Although a new venue, the same scaffold from the Chur Big Air is being set up inside the soccer stadium itself – which has a capacity of 32,000 – so the atmosphere should be electric. The riders have already competed on this jump this season, so should have it dialled in to give the freeski hooligans a show.
The same jump that was used in Chur, Switzerland will be used in the stadium.
Laemmerhirt
Event News
FC Klagenfurt away
New Year, Big Air – Third World Cup Big Air of the Season from the Klagenfurt Stadium
The first two events of the season have both been hard to predict, making them exciting contests. In Chur, Mathilde Gremaud and Matej Svancer took the wins, but then both failed to podium in Beijing.
In a region of Switzerland better known for its cheese, on the same jump that will be used this weekend, butter take-offs were rewarded by the judges with six of the top seven male riders stomping at least one butter trick. The jump is smaller than some others on the circuit so it is near impossible to unleash future spins – although never bet against these skiers – therefore, buttering off the take off is a way for the riders to increase the difficulty of a trick. Will this new panel of judges hook these tricks up as much as the panel did in Chur?
Mathilde Gremaud and Matej Svancer both won of this scaffold only a few months ago.
Laemmerhirt
The Beijing Big Air saw a glut of NBDs from both the Men’s and Women’s fields. Mathilde landed the first ever nose butter double cork 1260 but failed to land a clean enough second trick to take the win. Tess Ledeux came out on top with a switch double cork 1440 and double cork 1260 combo. Maybe Mathilde will go back to her tried and tested tricks that earnt her the win in Chur – although for progressions sake, persisting with the nose butter 12 would be great to see.
On the men’s side, Troy Podmilsak and Kim Gubser both landed NBDs of their own but it was Tormod Frostad who continued his immaculate form. Tormod has podiumed every contest so far this season and took the win after landing an NBD himself – a switch tail butter double bio 1440.
Luca Harrington skied out of his skin in Beijing - his esco grab even confused some freeski journalists.
@fisparkandpipe
The smaller size and slightly sketchy nature of the jump means that it is unlikely the riders will be going quite as hard as in Beijing. That being said, this is the second opportunity for riders to throw down on this kicker and with live music in the stadium after the event and hopefully thousands of skiing’s ultra fans, the atmosphere could be unlike anything seen since the days of Air + Style.
Hopefully conditions inside the stadium will be perfect and the skiers are able to perform at their best. Training has gone well, if social media is anything to go by, with Matej landing a nose butter triple 1620 in practice – the trick that he won with in Chur. Can the Austrian utilize home advantage or can Tormod make it a hat-trick of podiums and win away in Klagenfurt.
Klagenfurt World Cup Big Air Schedule and Live Stream Info
The men’s and women’s night finals will get under way at 16:30 (CET) on 4 January. If you are in the Klagenfurt area you can buy tickets for the event here.
Livestream info will be available here once it is released. Normally, if you have access to a VPN, you can watch live on Youtube for free. You will need to set your VPN to Iceland, New Zealand or Australia. Or you can watch it on the FIS Live stream website by connecting from Switzerland.