English text by Tom Kingsnorth

Finals day of The Laax Open 2022 was certainly one for the books and covid proved to be no deterrent as thousands of people headed up the hill to witness an incredible day of riding take place. Consequently, we were blessed with an electric atmosphere for this historic event. We needed a day to recover from the excitement but this is what went down.

Women’s Slope Finals
The Women’s Slopestyle final was unique before it even started as all of the 8 competitors represented 8 individual nations. This fact added to the perfect blend of both new faces and veteran competitors meant we were treated to a climatic showdown and first place was anyone’s for the taking.
Annika Morgan has had a great season heading into the Laax Open Finals, her Steamboat 3rd place was well deserved and she’s increasing her bag of tricks at every event. With a cab 9 and a back 10 in her run, Annika was stoked to walk away with the bronze. Anna Gasser is someone that needs no introduction but for some reason she has always had bad luck in Laax. That luck changed for the better as her run which included a switch back 3, cab 9 and a huge back 10 double, gave her the silver. Australian Tess Coady came 3rd last season but this year she had her gold place wrapped up on the first run. Coady didn’t opt for the victory lap though and instead cemented her win even more by putting down a sick fs double 10, much to the delight of the crowd.

Men’s Slope Finals
The men’s slopestyle finals included 3 US riders and a very strong field of riders from other nations. Even from qualifications the standard of snowboarding has been stronger than we have ever witnessed and with such a high-quality pool of riders it was clear we were about to see something special. Jake Canter from Evergreen, Colorado kept a cool head and waited for his second run that included a swich back 12 and a back triple 14 to get the 3rd spot. The slopestyle veteran; Staale Sandbech was firing on all cylinders and determined to get his ticket booked to Beijing 2022. His millerflip bring back, over the roller was textbook, followed by a cab 12 stale to fs 14 indy and ending on the Mctwist on the quarter brought him the silver. Sean Fitzsimons is a rider I knew nothing about before the finals but I watched him kill it in the minipipe all week. His run that included a triple 14 to backside triple 14 and ending up with a huge fs 7 stale on the quarter gave the judges no choice other than to award the young American the top spot.

Die Australierin Tess Coady ist die strahlende LAAX OPEN 2022 Slopestyle-Siegerin.. Nach dem ersten Run in Führung liegend, überbietet sie ihren eigenen Top-Score im zweiten Run mit einer unglaublichen Performance und heimst dafür 86,18 Punkte ein: „Der Sieg hier bedeutet die Welt für mich!“ Auf dem zweiten Platz Olympiasiegerin Anna Gasser (AUT), die erstmals seit 2017 wieder den Sprung auf das Podium am Crap Sogn Gion schafft. Dritte und erstmals unter den Top 3 in Laax die junge Annika Morgan (GER) mit einem sensationellen zweiten Run.

Bei den Männern überzeugt das US-amerikanische Team auf ganzer Linie mit drei Ridern unter den besten vier. Sean Fitzsimons (USA) ist der Laax Open 2022 Slopestyle Champion: „Traumwetter, Traumkurs, ein genialer Tag!“ Auf dem zweiten Platz landet Laax Veteran Staale Sandbech (NOR), der als einziger die US- amerikanische Phalanx durchbricht, gefolgt vom Nachwuchstalent Jake Canter (USA).

Winning Runs:

Tess Coady:

Cab 1 to Backside 3 am ersten Rail, Wallride to frontside Crippler auf dem Uprail, Frontside 180 to Switch Backside 360 am Butter Feature, Switch Backside 900 weddle am ersten Kicker, Frontside double 1080 Indy am Red Bull Kicker und ein Backside Air an der Quarterpipe.

Sean Fitzsimons:

Cab 2 on 2 off, Boardslide Underflip 6 Tailgrab, Frontside Miller Flip Double hand drag am Butter Feature, Frontside Triple 1440 Weddle, Backside Triple 1440 Weddle, Frontside 720 Stale.

Ergebnis Laax Open 2022 Slopestyle Finals:

Women’s Finals:

1. Tess Coady (AUS), 86.18

2. Anna Gasser (AUT), 78.56

3. Annika Morgan (GER), 76.61

4. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), 76.16

5. Cool Wakashima (NZL), 75.95

6. Enni Rukajärvi (FIN), 75.16

7. Melissa Peperkamp (NED), 68.21

8. Bianca Gisler (SUI), 56.50

Men’s Finals:

1. Sean Fitzsimons (USA), 80.91

2. Stale Sandbech (NOR), 80.43

3. Jake Canter (USA), 74.76

4. Brock Crouch (USA), 73.88

5. Leon Vockensperger (GER), 71.05

6. Takeru Otsuka (JPN), 68.96

7. Matty Coy (AUS), 65.78

8. Niek van der Velden (NED), 62.78

Alle Infos: www.laax.com/open