Just like that, the 2023/24 contest season is upon us! For the third year running, the World Cup circuit kicks off in Chur, Switzerland with Big Air Chur. Here’s what to expect.
A city big air is one of the best places for spectators to get up close to the action, like this capped blunt from Alia Eichinger. Photo: Lämmerhirt
New season, new tricks
The first major contest of the season is always a great chance to see what competitors have been cooking up during the off-season. At last year’s Big Air Chur, for example, if skiers weren’t spinning to win with 1800s, they were trying bringbacks and other weird rotations. Both approaches paid off in the finals, as Birk Ruud claimed the top spot with a double bio 1800 and a wild switch double 12 set that he somehow brought back to 900. Newcomers Troy Podmilsak and Noah Porter MacLennan completed the men’s podium with 1800 variations of their own. On the women’s side, Tess Ledeux snagged the win with flawless left and right double corks, followed by Mathilde Gremaud and Sandra Eie. Read last year’s report from Big Air Chur here.
Love them or hate them, bringbacks and other unorthodox rotations have shaken up the big air game. Leo Landroe brings out his cat moves. Photo: Christian Stadler
A new surface, too
The 2023 edition of Big Air Chur has another new aspect: For the first time, organizers are using an artificial dryslope surface on the inrun instead of snow. This provides a more consistent drop-in experience for riders, while saving the effort and cost of producing enough snow to cover the entire inrun. So far, the approach seems to be paying off—according to a FIS press release, feedback on the setup has been “overwhelmingly positive.”
Snow inruns on scaffolding jumps often get bumpy and patchy. The new artificial inrun in Chur is intended to fix that, allowing riders like Troy Podmilsak to focus on their tricks rather than on making it to the jump intact. Photo: Stadler
Big Air Chur 2023 Contest & Livestream Info
Both the qualification round and finals were originally scheduled for Friday, October 20. However, due to a rainy forecast for Friday morning, the freeski qualifications have been bumped up to Thursday, October 19. The finals are still scheduled to take place under the lights on Friday night. With a massive crowd in attendance, it’s currently one of the best live shows in skiing.
If you’re unable to get to Chur to watch it go down in person (tickets available here), you can watch a livestream of the Chur Big Air finals here. The finals begin at 8:00pm local time on Friday, October 20.
Other options to watch the finals include: CBC Sports Streaming (CAN), CT Sport (CZE), Viaplay Streaming (DEN, GBR), Eurosport 1 (EU), V Sport Vinter (FIN, SWE), L’Equippe 4 (FRA), ESPN Latin America Streaming, V Sport + (NOR), Polsat Sport Premium 2 (POL), skiandsnowboard.live (USA)
UPDATE: Due to poor weather conditions, the friday finals have been cancelled. the qualification results will be taken as the final results.
We’ll be onsite over the weekend to check out all the action, so tune in to our Stories on Instagram to keep on the latest from Big Air Chur!
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