Gorodko and Nishizawa claim early-season Moguls victories in Hintertux

Kazakhstan's Anastassiya Gorodko and Japan's Taketo Nishizawa claimed the women's and men's Moguls victories at Hintertux Glacier (AUT) on Friday, 6 November, in the first FIS Open event of the European competition season.

The event brought together established World Cup athletes and younger competitors from across the international moguls community, with favorable weather providing good conditions for the opening two days of competition.

The action began on Thursday with the first stop of this season's Moguls Junior Regional Tour, featuring Junior Regional Cup, U15 and U13 competitions. The event gave young skiers, including some born as recently as 2016, an opportunity to gain competition experience alongside athletes from several international teams and ski clubs.

Attention then turned to Friday's FIS Open, where Gorodko delivered the winning performance in the women's competition.

The Kazakh skier scored 74.04 points in the final to finish ahead of Japan's Mio Tani, who took second place with 71.41 points, while compatriot Marin Ito completed the podium with 70.66.

It was another successful appearance in Hintertux for Gorodko, who finished second in Moguls at last year's event before going on to win the Dual Moguls competition.

Japan also showed considerable depth in the women's field, taking seven of the top eight positions. Shiori Asano finished fourth with 67.93 points, followed by Hikaru Sakai in fifth with 67.02 and Hina Fujiki in sixth with 65.16.

In the men's competition, Japan went one better, sweeping all three podium positions.

Taketo Nishizawa claimed the victory with a score of 79.63 points, narrowly beating teammate Ikkei Fujimura, who finished second with 78.54.

Fujimura, one of the younger athletes in Japan's training delegation, was followed by another rising Japanese skier, Ryoma Hayashi, who completed the podium with 75.56 points.

Czechia's Matyas Kroupa narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing fourth with 74.43 points, while Japan's experienced World Cup competitor Kosuke Sugimoto took fifth with 74.35. Last year's winner Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ) finished eighth.

Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse over the weekend. Following several postponements, the planned Dual Moguls competitions were eventually canceled, bringing the event to an earlier conclusion than organizers had hoped.

Despite the cancellation, Hintertux provided an important first opportunity for athletes to return to competition, with the FIS Open attracting an international field and the junior events offering a platform for the next generation.

The early-season calendar continues in Sweden, where Idre Fjäll will host the next FIS Open Moguls competitions on 21–22 November.

Two further FIS-level stops are scheduled before the end of the month, with Levi (FIN) hosting Moguls on 27 November, followed by another two days of competition in Idre Fjäll on 29–30 November.

For full results see HERE.