Big names turn up in a big way for spectacular Laax European Cup premium slopestyle

While the 2022/23 FIS World Cup Park & Pipe/Freeski season is slowly coming to an end, the European Cup circuit is still in full swing. With Livigno, Ruka, Corvatch, Kitzsteinhorn and Stubai all still yet to come on the schedule there are plenty of opportunities to rack up the points and win the highly sought after Europa Cup trophies - as well as the personal World Cup spots that go along with those titles.

This past weekend we saw a European Cup season highlight go down on the snowboard side of things, with slopestyle action taking to the storied slopes of Laax, Switzerland on Friday, 17 March.

The Laax competition event was assigned as Premium event, and that title that is only dedicated to Continental Cups that take place on World Cup courses with the high standard of organization that comes with hosting such an event.

It’s common knowledge at this point that Laax is one of the premier competition venues anywhere in the world, with a pedigree of hosting season-highlight events year-in, and year-out. With the World Cup finals coming up this weekend in Silvaplana, just a 1.5 hour drive down the road, we saw a record number of 130 athletes from 27 nations dropping in on the Laax EC competition, with dozens of those athletes also set to compete at the World Cup finale and looking to warm things up before he big show in Silvaplana.

Not only was the field size a record, but we also we saw all five FIS continents represented on the start list, with athletes from South America, North America, Asia, Australia/ New Zealand and Europe dropping in. And, with the likes of Taiga Hasegawa (JPN), Mia Brookes (GBR) and Lee Chaeun (KOR) all competing in Laax, there were no less than three fresh World Champions on the start list.

It goes without saying there was of an unprecedented level of riding witnessed on Friday, with a great atmosphere at the start created by our MCs, including (slightly injured) Laax “local” and double crystal globe winner Valentino Guseli of Australian and Switzerland’s own Junior World Championships medalist Jonas Hasler holding things down on the mic and commentating their fellow athletes’ runs.

Podium results Laax European Cup Premium slopestyle:

Women:

1. Emeraude MAHEUX CAN

2. Mia BROOKES GBR

3. Lucia GEORGALLI NZL

Men:

1. Taiga HASEGAWA JAP

2. Liam BREARLEY CAN

3. Cameron SPALDING (CAN)

Find full results from Laax HERE and the rest of the 2022/23 European Cup calendar HERE.