Snowboarding
You can watch this week’s Laax Open live on Red Bull TV, but first make sure you know exactly what's going down.
It’s the first major snowboard contest of the ‘20s and, with 200 pro snowboarders all headed to Switzerland this week, the 2020 Laax Open is guaranteed to go off. Here’s what you need to know ahead of this weekend’s live coverage on Red Bull TV:
How important is the Laax Open?
As a venue, Laax is about as good as it gets – the World Ski Awards has just named this legendary Swiss resort the World’s Best Freestyle Resort for the fourth year in a row. Boasting the longest halfpipe in the world and a reputation for ultra-creative course design, this is the ultimate freestyler’s arena. And, as the first major contest of the 2020 season, the Laax Open traditionally sets the standard for other A-list events like the US Open, X Games and Olympics to follow.
Who's going to win the Slopestyle?
With a stacked field of top-ranked international pros and talented rookies eager to break into the big leagues, who's looking likely to win in 2020? Having earned a reputation for being the event where unknown rookies topple the big names, our crystal ball is looking pretty cloudy – but let’s give it a shot!
Course design and weather are the two major factors at play in this discipline: Laax’s crew of designers and shapers are known for producing innovative courses with challenging obstacles that sort out the snowboarders from the robots. Meanwhile, the Laax Open is also famous for heavy snowstorms, which makes for awesome powder days… and not-so-awesome contest conditions that favour consistent riders who can stomp runs with their eyes closed.
Women's Slopestyle favourites
In the women’s event Anna Gasser would have been the hot pick for top spot, but she’s deep in filming mode and won't be competing. California’s Jamie Anderson will be though, and although she’s not as progressive as many of the younger generation of riders, Jamie’s rock-solid skills give her an edge on a technical course – especially if the weather turns bad. If conditions are good, the USA’s Hailey Langland has what it takes to bring home the win, but she’ll need to get past Japan’s Reira Iwabuchi, who logged an impressive five World Cup podiums in 2019.
Katie’s comeback?
The first-ever female rider to land a double cork 1080, Britain’s Katie Ormerod has been slowly fighting her way back from injury, and Laax will be her first World Cup in over two years. Could this be the year that it all comes together for Katie?
Men's Slopestyle favourites
The men’s Slopestyle is always the toughest one to call: not only is the overall standard incredibly high and competitive, this event is where the up-and-comers come to shine. Norway’s Staale Sandbech is a) the most stylish rider in the game and b) on form lately, so he’s our top pick from the established field of pros, along with Canada’s Seb Toutant, who along with being, at 27, one of the oldest athletes in the field, also has the most Olympic and X Games gold medals in his trophy cabinet.
Meanwhile, USA’s Judd Henkes could be the rookie to watch, especially if the rumours we’ve been hearing about having switch backside 1620’ on lockdown are true, or how about 16 year-old Dusty Henricksen? One of the youngest riders in the field, Dusty placed first in Monday’s qualifiers, so it’ll be interesting to see how he does when the top dogs bring out their A-game on Saturday.
Watch the 2020 Laax Open Slopestyle finals here:
Who's going to win the Halfpipe?
The halfpipe on Laax’s Crap Sogn Gion has to be seen to be believed: 200m long with walls nearly 7 metres high, this is one of the biggest, longest superpipes in the world. Add the world’s top riders and a floodlit night final, and the stage is set for a Saturday night to remember.
Women's Halfpipe favourites
The crystal ball is looking particularly cloudy for the women’s Halfpipe – the USA’s Chloe Kim is always the rider to beat, but she’s taking a year off to go to university, which leaves things wide open. Our first pick for the win is Maddie Mastro – after picking up an X Games bronze in her 2018 rookie year, this super-talented 19-year-old rounded off the 2019 season with a huge win at the US Open, where she stomped the first Double Crippler 900 in women’s snowboarding competition, beating Chloe Kim in the process.
Meanwhile, Jiayu Liu won in Laax in 2018 and she’s just won the Secret Garden contest in China, making this Chinese rider a very strong contender. Finally, there’s Spain’s Queralt Castellet to consider – she placed second here in 2019 and Laax is home turf for Queralt. Bottom line: the Women’s Halfpipe final is way too close to call.
Men's Halfpipe favourites
Laax has seen some incredible battles in the men’s Halfpipe over the years: Switzerland has some incredible homegrown talent and there’s nothing guys like Iouri Podlatchikov, Pat Burgener and David Hablützel love more than defending their home turf against the world’s best.
But with Australia’s Scotty James returning to defend his 2019 title, he’ll definitely be the man to beat. Scotty has started the season with all guns blazing, topping the podium twice this winter already. But if we had to choose a young gun with the potential to beat Scotty, it would have to be Japan’s Yuto Totsuka – this 18-year-old has been hard on Scotty’s heels for a while, earning a long string of second-place finishes throughout the 2019 FIS World Cup season.
Watch the 2020 Laax Open Halfpipe finals here:
What else is going on?
If you're lucky enough to be on location yourself, be sure not to miss a totally new contest format that's debuting in Laax 2020: the TAG TEAM Crossover Slopestyle Session. Taking place on the top part of the Kicker Pro-Line, this is a team event where six teams of three, consisting of skiers and snowboarders, men and women, will perform as a squad, to be judged according to overall impression. The action begins at 12.30pm CET (11.30am UTC) on Saturday, January 18, 2020 on Crap Sogn Gion.
How can I watch the 2020 Laax Open finals?
With the whole of Laax taken over by snowboarders and MIA playing the afterparty, this is one contest that deserves to be experienced up close and personal.
But if that’s not an option, then the next best thing is to join us at Red Bull TV where we’ll be screening Friday’s Slopestyle finals (from 4pm CET/3pm UTC) and Saturday night’s Half Pipe finals (from 9.30pm CET/8.30pm UTC), so you can either watch the event live or catch the replay afterwards on demand.
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