Snowboarders for Crystal Globe at Big Air Kreischberg
Snowboarders close in on Crystal Globe at Big Air Kreischberg.

Competition among the world’s best snowboarders is expected to be fierce at the second-last big air event of the 2024/25 FIS Snowboard World Cup season in Kreischberg this week.
Beginning on Thursday, a total of 88 riders will compete at Big Air Kreischberg, the fourth of five big air events on the World Cup calendar.
Japanese riders lead the men’s and women’s fields, with Mari Fukada one of 29 women vying for a spot in the finals when qualifications begin at 13:35 Central European Time (CET) on Thursday.
Fukada was runner-up at Big Air Klagenfurt last week behind 17-year-old winner Mia Brookes (GBR), but Fukada leads the Big Air World Cup standings as a result of finishing on the World Cup podium at every event since the season began in October.
Fukada opened her season by winning Big Air Chur, followed by second place at Beijing and Klagenfurt respectively.
Brookes, however, leads the overall women’s FIS Park & Pipe World Cup standings with two big air victories from Beijing and Klagenfurt and runner-up honours in slopestyle in Cardrona in September. The teenager was also last season’s big air Crystal Globe winner.
Also among the field of 29 women is two-time Olympic Winter Games big air gold medallist and home-resort favourite Anna Gasser (AUT), who finished fifth in Klagenfurt last week after previously taking third place in Beijing in December.
Reira Iwabuchi (JPN) finished just outside of the podium in front of Gasser in Klagenfurt, which marked the third time she finished within the top five this season, including fifth place in slopestyle in Cardrona. Iwabuchi started the season strong as runner-up to Fukada in Chur in October and will be hoping to climb up the rankings in Kreischberg.
Compatriot Momo Suzuki will be buoyed by her third place from Klagenfurt, which was the 17-year-old’s first career World Cup podium in just three World Cup starts.
Meanwhile, last season’s overall Crystal Globe winner Kokomo Murase (JPN) comes to Kreischberg with only one podium thus far this season, from slopestyle in Cardrona. In stark contrast to the 2023/24 season, in which she won two out of two big air World Cup starts, Murase has so far finished eighth at Beijing and Klagenfurt, and fourth in Chur.
Men’s reigning World Champion Taiga Hasegawa currently leads the FIS big air and overall Park & Pipe standings following his second victory of the season at Klagenfurt.
The 19-year-old’s win last week more than made up for his ninth place finish in Beijing in December, which came after his big air season-opening victory in Chur.
Trailing Hasegawa in the Park & Pipe and big air standings is Italian teenager Ian Matteoli, who was runner-up behind Hasegawa in Klagenfurt, as well as runner-up in Beijing along with fourth in Chur.
Japan’s Hiroto Ogiwara returns to competition in Kreischberg after the 19-year-old missed competition in Klagenfurt due to a minor injury. Ogiwara took the win in Beijing in December.