FIS Freeskiing kicked off 2025 with a Big Air banger in Klagenfurt. The stadium set a great scene although unfortunately the venue didn't seem as full as it could have been but the skiing certainly delivered some highlights. Switch 'butters' featured heavily, but skis were, if we're honest, rarely flexed. I wouldn't want to be a judge, that's for sure. The Austrian commentators described the progression of Chinese freeskiing with the quote "it all started when they bought Eileen Gu", which is a full send kinda statement to match the skiing on the night.
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Women
Sarah Hoefflin kicked things up a gear right from the off with a dub 10 for 82 and setting the bar. Anouk Andraska backed up her for a slightly higher score, before Ruyi Yang did it even better and took the provisional lead, going bigger and grabbing longer. Muriel Mohr stomped a tasty switch bio 9 before Mathilde inevitably set the bar higher with a stomped left dub 12. Flora Tabanelli matched that, going a little bigger to take the lead, before Liu Menting put a dub 10 down to round out the first run.
Run two saw Anouk go switch bio 9 for 80 and the very provisional lead. Ruyi Yang went switch 9 mute but the axis was not on par and she didn't quite stack enough points to go ahead. Muriel Mohr's dub 10 was enough however, only an 82 but still enough for now. Mathilde Gremaud had an uncharacteristic crash on a switch dub 10. Mira put down a switch bio 9 mute, not the cleanest but enough for the lead, briefly. Liu Menting went with the otherway dub 10 and put it down perfectly, which left her top of the table after two.
It wasn't to be for Sarah Hoefflin today, who caught an edge on the inrun and just survived. It was a full send final run though with lots of crashes as the women vied for the podium spots. In fact, nobody improved on their scores until the second last to drop. That meant Muriel Mohr took home third, before Flora Tabanelli did improve her switch bio 9, but not by enough to take the lead. That left Liu Menting with a first career win and a victory lap.
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Men
Antoine Adelisse made his return to finals for the first time since 2021, sending a triple 14 but unfortunately coming up a bit short. Fabian Boesch stomped a switch dub 18 safety for 85, it was perfect but with a safety these days, not quite enough to challenge the podium. Axel Burmansson went switch 'butter' dub 14 for 82. Interesting to see the switch margarine not scoring particularly well, but still perhaps higher than some harder tricks. Ulrik Samnoey went for the same but with tail, naturally scoring a little better and taking the lead. Andri stomped a forward dub 18 cuban... for 86.00, he was a surprised as we were. Kuura Koivisto stomped a wild switch op carve blender dub, only scored 80 for it though. Luca Harrington went switch triple 16 esco, perfect, for a clear lead, 94.80. Tim Sivignon went nosebutter triple 14 mute, super clean too for 91.8. Last to drop, Matej put down a nosebutter triple 16 safety for 93.00 and second.
Run two saw Fabian Boesch stomp a dub 18 blunt, perfectly capped too. 83 seemed pretty harsh but he was at least having a better day than Cody LaPlante, who was styling but didn't manage to put his butter bring back combo down cleanly. Andri stomped the switch bio dub 16 he's known for but again, it has been done a lot. Is it still harder than some tricks that scored higher? Perhaps. Kuura put down a forward dub wobble 16 on a pretty crazy axis that on the steno was called triple on the steno. 86 seemed fair enough here but I can see that it was a hard one to score. Luca Harrington went with the dub 10 to 9 bringback japan and did it flawlessly. 87.80 was good, but possibly not good enough. Tim S stomped a switch dub misty 16 perfect. Matej went switch tailbutter dub 14 japan with a proper Tom Wallisch switch landing but it was only 82.40. Insanely clean but perhaps not enough in the tech box.
Cody LaPlante finally put one down in run three but it was for pride, the same went for Antoine Adelisse. Much like on the women's side, we didn't see a lot of improvement from those in the running early on. Boesch put down the forward dub 18 again, pretty much the same but held the grab a bit better. It was enough for 86 but not enough to challenge the podium. Andri couldn't improve despite going buick grab, he did land a little backseat though. Matej put it down again, but there was a little hand down maybe? Regardless, he didn't improve but remained in third. He does actually butter a bit though on his switch takeoffs which is nice see. Tim Sivignon went to the moon and grabbed better on the mute+tail double grab. Too big to stomp perfectly though that left Luca Harrington with the W.
With a VPN you should be able to watch the full replay here, but it might get taken down:
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