Japanese victory in Chur: Swiss snowboarders disappoint at the start of the World Cup

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Booming bass, spectacular light shows and thousands of spectators cheering on the riders at the top of the 40-meter high jump. This is Big Air Chur. While the freeskiers’ final was affected by rain on Friday, the snowboarders were luckier with the weather on Saturday. Yet it was a day to quickly forget for the Swiss team.

None of the seven Swiss athletes made it into the top ten of qualifying and thus made it to the final. Newcomer Lena Müller (20) was also the only Swiss woman to get stuck in the women’s qualifying. This hurts even more because a Swiss was on the podium at the last two World Championships in Chur.

“Immediately after qualifying, the mood in the team was quite low and the disappointment was great,” confirms Big Air coach Remo Thaler. And he explains: “The conditions in a big city are extremely difficult. At these temperatures the snow feels very different after every run.” The fact that even the reigning world champion Taiga Hasegawa (JPN) was unable to qualify for the final underlines Thaler’s statement.

Japanese dominance

The remaining Japanese apparently coped quite well with the constantly changing circumstances. The men immediately took the entire podium with Hiroto Ogiwara as the winner, followed by his compatriots Kira Kimura and Takeru Otsuka.

The women’s final also saw first-place Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi and two Japanese women triumph, while Britain’s Mia Brookes secured third place.

Source : Blick