Event Recap: 2023 World Cup Corvatsch, Silvaplana
The 2023 Corvatsch, Silvaplana slopestyle course. Photo: Andrea Furger
Corvatsch, Silvaplana was the last stop on the 2022-23 freestyle calendar this past weekend and the location once again proved to be a great resort to host world class snowboarding.
Corvatsch, Silvaplana is situated in a somewhat sleepy and peaceful town in the Engadin Valley, that offers stunning views of Lake Silvaplana, a summer hotspot for kiteboarding due to its famous “Maloja" thermal winds. The resort is investing heavily in snowboarding and will host the 2025 FIS World Championships. Because of this, Corvatsch, Silvaplana will begin constructing a state of the art halfpipe this September, that when completed, will allow riders to session it until April, due to its high altitude and great snow conditions. When resorts around the Globe are closing their pipes for good, it’s refreshing to hear that Corvatsch, Silvaplana have plans to invest in building their very first.
The 2023 Corvatsch, Silvaplana finals was a true showcase on how good a slopestyle course can be. We welcomed the decision to make the end feature a halfpipe, that ensured the riders had to use all of their riding strengths to guarantee a good result.
Sven Thorgen making use of the bottom halfpipe feature. Photo: Stadlerphoto,
Ever changing weather conditions over the weekend, caused a programming conundrum for the organisers but we were blessed with good conditions that all events could take place. Up first were the Women and Julia Marino, making her World Cup Silvaplana debut, impressed everyone with her run consisting of a Frontboard 270 Boardslide Pretzel Out, Cab Double 900, Frontside 720, Backside 1080, Straight Air (Pipe Feature) to give her the gold. As well as the World Cup win, she also picked up the small crystal globe for the 2022/2023 FIS Slopestyle discipline ranking. Australian, Tess Coady came in second and Austrian powerhouse and slopestyle veteran Anna Gasser came in third. 16 year old Mia Brookes, straight off her immense slopestyle win in Georgia had to settle for 4th place.
The ever stylish Tess Coady on her way to a silver place. Photo: Stadlerphoto
Mia Brooks had to settle for 4th. Photo: Stadlerphoto
The Men’s final was hastily rescheduled due to bad weather, with the qualifications being held the previous day. A monstrous qualifications saw fifty-three men whittled down to 16 for Sunday’s final. The qualies saw some upset for both Valentino Guseli and two-time Corvatsch winner Marcus Kleveland that were unable to progress into the finals.
The visibility for the finals was intermittent at times but the sun came out to ensure that the finals could take place but not before a somewhat disastrous first run, in which only 3 riders were able to land a clean run, you could feel the tension from the organisers going into run 2. Luckily for all, complete runs started to take shape and once they did, we were all set for a great show.
Moritz Boll looked strong all weekend but couldn’t reach the podium. Photo: Stadlerphoto
17 year old Taiga Hasegawa, stoked after stomping his gold winning run. Photo: Stadlerphoto
All in all, The 2023 Corvatsch, Silvaplana was the ideal place to end yet another incredible winter season and with their future investment in freestyle snowboarding taking shape, the future is looking bright.