It turns out that the road to Beijing begins in Chur, Switzerland of all places. Depending on different countries' criteria, this may or may not have counted as a qualification event, but it did count towards the official qualification criteria (minimum of a top 30 world cup finish and 50 FIS points, we think). Regardless, tonight saw the first city Big Air kick-start the comp season and set many an Olympic hopeful on their path to the big show. Comps will be coming thick and fast in the run-up to 2022 and on both the men's and women's side, competition for spots is fierce. The same athletes will compete in Big Air and Slopestyle, making these city events a big deal for qualification, even to those who aren't typically Big Air specialists. The jump, as per normal for a city jump was on the sketchy side, with a pretty brutal transition and a short run-out. But it was great to see city events return to Swiss soil, throwing it back to freestyle.ch with both big air and a festival vibe. Rain canceled practice yesterday - and wind delayed men's second qualifier heat today - which added a layer of peril to proceedings but with so much at stake, the riders were sending as they always do. The flamethrowers on the drop in and the huge crowd certainly contributed to the big event feeling and it was a great show to get comp season rolling.

Women's Highlights:

Run 1:

The ladies kicked things off, and the first couple of runs from Sandra Eie and Silvia Bertanga showed intent but were a little loose on the landings of their dub 10s. Giulia Tanno stomped her dub 10 safety to put the first big score on the board. Elena Gaskell then raised the bar with a perfect switch 10 mute for a lead that would remain for the rest of the first run. Sarah Hoefflin managed to somehow get tangled in her bib which ruined the landing of her switch dub 10 causing a facedrag. Tess Ledeux had two goes at getting the mute in her dub 12 but couldn't quite hold it. It was enough for provisional third.

Run 2:

Run two saw the order get switched up to reverse score order, but the slow starters stepped it up. Sandra laced her dub 10 safety for 84.75, before Sarah took a commanding lead with a textbook switch dub 10 high mute and a score of 93.25. That lead held for 3 runs, with Silvia Bertagna, Megan Oldham and Anastasia Tatalina all sketching the landings on dub 12 attempts. Tess Ledeux however, was anything but sketchy with a dub 12 mute that was certainly the cleanest trick of the day. Neither Elena Gaskell or Giulia Tanno could top that, leaving Tess top of the podium and deservedly so.

_

Podium runs:

Elena Gaskell:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014908/Elena-R1-m4v

_

Sarah Hoefflin:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014896/Sarah-R2-m4v

_

Tess Ledeux:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014897/Tess-R2-m4v

_

Results:

_

Men's Highlights:

Run 1:

Run one was a classic case of big jump, short transition for the men. Most of the guys went too big, and either crashed or bottomed out in the transition. Only Lukas Mullauer and Matej Svancer put down their tricks with any degree of solidity and only Matej broke the 90s. That would rapidly change in run two. Shoutout to Mac forehand for air awareness, opening up and saving a doomed-looking dub 14.

Run 2:

Run two was a totally different story. David Zehentner, who by the way we've never even heard of, stomped a crazy switch dub 16 tweaked mute to set the bar at 95.00. Who is breeding these kids? Max Moffat stomped so hard the ground shook on a dub 16 of his own, but whiffed the grab slightly. Alex Hall dropped the grab early on his trademark buick before everything got a little crazy for the last two runs. Birk Ruud stomped his dub bio 18 mute to take the lead with a ridiculous 97.25... but was immediately bumped to second by Teal Harle. We think he did a triple 14 safety pulled back to 12... it was essentially the triple version of his trademark dub 9 and it was nuts. He scored 98 and looked to have taken the win before Matej happened. Nosebutter dub 18 tweaked safety (could argue tindy) absolutely stomped like he never left the ground. 99 points and a first big win for the guy we will surely be seeing on top of the podium for years to come. An honourable mention goes to Lukas Mullauer who hand dragged a crazily tweaked switch dub 18 blunt.

_

Podium Runs:

Birk Ruud:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014915/Birk-R2-m4v

_

Teal Harle:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014916/Teal-R2-m4v

_

Matej Svancer:

https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1014917/Matej-R2-m4v

_

Full Results: