Southern Continental Cup season comes to close with a big week in Cardrona

The 2026 southern hemisphere FIS Park & Pipe competition season ended with a bang recently in Cardrona (NZL), where a massive week of competition saw both the Freeskiers and the Snowboarders compete in a full slate of Big Air, Slopestyle, and Halfpipe Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) action at New Zealand’s finest freestyle mecca from 03-08 October. 

Despite the occasionally challenging spring conditions, with valuable FIS points and World Cup quota spots on the line, athletes from around the globe were stepping up in a big way at the final Continental Cup action of the southern winter. Held alongside the New Zealand Freestyle Nationals, the Cardrona competitions brought together an impressive field of emerging talent and established riders, making for some exceptional action across all six competitions.

BIG AIR SETS THE TONE

The action kicked off on 3 October with Big Air, as athletes took on Cardrona's legendary pro kicker to showcase their progression and push the limits.

Korea’s Yula Jeong topped the women's Freeski field, with Sylvia Trotter (NZL) securing second place and Maya Broadbent (AUS) rounding out the podium in third. In the men's competition, the USA’s James Kanzler claimed victory ahead of Australia's Hugo Broadbent, with Kanzler’s fellow U.S. young gun Rodney Koford in third.

Japan enjoyed a strong start to the week in snowboard, with Himari Ishii taking the women's victory and 15-year-old Hakuto Kitayama leading the men's field. Australia's Mela Stalker delivered a strong performance to finish second in women's snowboard Big Air, with Karin Kikuchi (JPN) in third. Meanwhile, it was Sora Horigome of Japan and Hiromu Watanabe completing the Japanese sweep of the men’s podium.

HALFPIPE SHOWCASES INTERNATIONAL DEPTH

Halfpipe competition followed on 5 October, bringing another day of high-level riding and skiing to Cardrona.

Jeong continued her impressive week by claiming the women's freeski Halfpipe victory, adding another win to her Cardrona campaign. In the men's event, New Zealand's Cooper Breen topped the field, delivering a home-soil victory in front of the local crowd.

The USA’s Kaitlyn Reital and Emily Campbell rounded out the women’s Freeski podium in second and third respectively, while two-time Olympic gold medallist Birk Ruud announced his halfpipe days may not be over yet with a second place finish in the men’s competition. Riley Hein (CAN) finished in thired.

The strong showings for Korean continued in the Snowboard Halfpipe competitions, where Seunghyun Kim claimed top spot for the women, while compatriot Suo Lee won the men's competition.

Amalie Haskell (AUS) and Yeongwoo Pak (KOR) finished second and third in the women’s Snowboard Halfpipe competition, while it was Kaito Takeuchi and Keigo Sonoda earning a couple more podiums for the Japanese to round out the men’s side of things.

SLOPESTYLE CAPS OFF CARDRONA ANC ON A HIGH

The Slopestyle competitions on 7 October brought the week's action to a exciting  conclusion, with athletes taking on the renowned pro line at Cardrona’s Big Buck's Park.

14-year-old Broadbent emerged from Cardrona as one of the world’s most promising youngsters, claiming victory in women's Freeski Slopestyle to top the ANC overall standings in Slopestyle and Big Air. 

New Zealand's Sylvia Trotter finished second for her second podium of the week, while Australian teammate and Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympian Indra Brown secured third place, giving Australia two athletes on the podium. Trotter and Brown would also finish second and third behind Broadbent on the ANC rankings.

In the men's freeski competition it was Halfpipe king Luke Harrold showing he knows his way around the park as well by claiming the Slopestyle win, with Canada's Jeremy Gagné finishing second and Japan's Gen Fujii taking third.

Harrold’s win would give him top spot on the men’s Slopestyle & Big Air overall for the ANC season, giving him a World Cup spot for 2026/27 should he choose to add even more competition action to his already busy Halfpipe calendar.

The women's snowboard Slopestyle title went to Australia's Airish George, who delivered an incredible performance to claim her first-ever Continental Cup-level victory at just 12 years of age. Japan's Kikuchi and Ishii each added Slopestyle top-3 finishes to their Big Air podiums from earlier in the week, finishing second and third respectively.

Japan also dominated the men's snowboard podium, with Hiromu Watanabe securing the win ahead of teammate Yuto Yamada, while New Zealand's Zephyr Lovelock finished third.

With their Slopestyle wins taking them over the season finish line, George and Watanabe would end the 2026 ANC Slopestyle & Big Air season atop the respective women’s and men’s overall podiums. 

QUICK LINKS:

• FULL RESULTS FREESKI

• ANC STANDINGS FREESKI

• FULL RESULTS SNOWBOARD

• ANC STANDINGS SNOWBOARD