Half of the women’s eight finalists hailed from Japan, with Reira Iwabuchi finishing just outside of the podium in fourth place, while double Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) rounded out the top five.Japan’s Momo Suzuki claimed third place with a total score of 166.75 points, as the 17-year-old earned her first career World […]
Half of the women’s eight finalists hailed from Japan, with Reira Iwabuchi finishing just outside of the podium in fourth place, while double Olympic big air champion Anna Gasser (AUT) rounded out the top five.Japan’s Momo Suzuki claimed third place with a total score of 166.75 points, as the 17-year-old earned her first career World Cup podium in just her third World Cup start. In the men’s big air, reigning World Champion Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) claimed victory on 179.75 points, ahead of runner-up Ian Matteoli (ITA) and his best-two combined score of 175.25.Japan’s Mari Fukada was runner-up to Brookes in Beijing, and the 18-year-old again took second place behind Brookes on Sunday with a score of 182.25 points.Reigning big air Crystal Globe winner Kokomo Murase took heavy slams in both of her first two runs and elected not to drop in for run three, finishing in eighth place.Fukada was in pole position for most of the evening after she received 93.50 in run one for a switch back double 1260 drunk driver, before Brookes stomped her third and final run to take the lead.Brookes’ victory is her second consecutive victory after she won the last big air event on the FIS Snowboard World Cup calendar in Beijing in December.
