Japan’s Best Athletes Snow Award 2023

In May 2023, the Ski Association of Japan held the "SNOW AWARD 2023" at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo to honor the athletes who have performed well this season. A total of 200 people, including guests of honor and members of the press, attended the event and were able to see the athletes dressed up in different outfits from their usual appearance on the snow.

The following athletes were selected for the Best Athlete Award. The following athletes from SNOW JAPAN, who have been active in the FIS World Cup and World Championships this season, were named as the winners.

Ski Jumping: KOBAYASHI Ryoyu, ITO Yuki, TAKANASHI Sara, and MARUYAMA Nozomi

Nordic Combined: YAMAMOTO Ryota, and KASAI Haruka

Freestyle Mogul: HORISHIMA Ikuma, and KAWAMURA Anri

Freestyle Ski Cross: SUGAI Ryo

Freestyle Slopestyle/Big Air: KOGA Yuna

Snowboard Halfpipe: HIRANO Ruka, and ONO Mitsuki

Snowboard Alpine: SHIBA Masaki, and MIKI Tsubaki

Snowboard Cross: TAKAHARA Yoshiki

Snowboard Slopestyle/Big Air: HASEGAWA Taiga, and ONITSUKA Miyabi

Instruction & Development Department: TAKEDA Ryu, WATANABE Nagisa, TAKIGUCHI Masashi, and YOSHIMURA Minori

The Next Hero Award, the rookie of the year award, went to 17-year-old HASEGAWA Taiga, who won both the Slopestyle and Big Air events in his second year on the FIS World Cup. He also won the gold medal in big air at the FIS World Championships.

MIKI Tsubaki, who had the most impressive performance of the season, was named best athlete out of the 21 athletes who received awards for excellence. MIKI won gold in the women's parallel GS at the FIS World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia. She was the first Japanese athlete to win a gold medal in this event. Still only 20 years old, MIKI is expected to do even better in the future.