Style purveyors Anni Karava and Ulrik Samnoey take their first ever World Cup Big Air Wins

The Women

The women’s field once again saw a good mix of progressive tricks and added style. Mengting Lui was the first to go into the 90s as she squeaked a left double cork 1440 cindy to her feet. She finished in second place adding a right double cork 1080 safety.

Kirsty Muir would also land a dub 14 on her first run but only just got her fingers on the grab and was punished for it. She would take a horrible slam on her second run, tweaking out the mute on her double cork 1080 but meeting the knuckle with her chin. It was a relief to see her okay and stomping the trick on her third run, but the poor grab on the 14 meant her scores were only good enough for fourth place.

For those of us unacquainted with the “Nor Am” contest circuit, Naomi Urness seems to have come out of nowhere with a bag full of competitive tricks. She has gone two-for-two securing her second podium in as many Big Air starts, with a right double cork 1260 safety and a really stylish switch right wobble bio axis 1080 mute, that were both enough for third place.

It was style merchant Anni Karava who took her first ever World Cup Big Air win in her 47th start. She combined a textbook, clean left double cork 1080 mute with her signature, steeze dripping, switch left cork 1080 lead blunt. Anni shows that the sport is not all about who can spin the biggest. She proves that you can add difficulty by adding more complex grabs and executing them well. For the last few years, Anni’s runs have been some of the best to watch, finally she is being rewarded with victory. 

“I am so happy, thanks to everyone. It’s been a lot of getting the pieces together and going step-by-step [to get the first win],” Anni said after the finals. “I am super happy to be here and I am super excited for the future.”

The Men

If it wasn’t already, the men’s field is getting outrageous. Big Air conests are moving towards a 1980 fest, with judges needing to surgically pull apart the nuances of each variation with brutal scrutiny in order to separate the riders.

Amplitude—and especially trajectory—is always a major talking point for the judges, and that’s even more true in Beijing. The judging booth sits at eye level with the riders when they’re in the air, making differences in trajectory stand out clearly. In fact, the judges often see these distinctions far more precisely than anyone watching on the livestream.

Take Kim Gubser’s switch left triple 1080 guitar to the bottom for example. He went massive, but his trajectory was really flat, not using the parabolic trajectory of jump correctly and therefore was harshed on his score.

This is one of the things that hurt Matej Svance today. Both of his tricks comparably lacked this “big” trajectory. Matej stomped what could be described as a perfect left nose butter triple 1980 safety—that was until you had something to compare it to. 

Junior Slopestyle World Champ and 15-year-old sensation Frank Wahlstroem scored just under three points higher for exactly the same trick, even with a small landing instability. Frank’s nose butter was more proper, snapping his noses off the wedge at a full 180 degrees. His trajectory was also significantly higher than Matej’s, often an indicator of a correctly executed nose butter, both meaning that he deserved the extra points. Having progressed from winning the Europa Cup circuit last season, Frank would finish in fourth, but will without a doubt be finding the podium at some point this season—an incredible progression arc.

Matej would on-up Frank on their B tricks and land into third place, adding a tail butter to the switch left triple cork 1800 safety that they shared.

Luca Harrington would take second place with his signature switch right triple cork 1800 esco grab—maybe losing some points for not holding it quite as long as he has in the past. He backed this up with a carved right triple cork 1980 cindyish-safety, which affected the score slightly and kept him off the top spot. He did claim the save of the day as he lost an edge at the last moment before take-off on his third hit—looking like he’d been shot out of a cannon and somehow managing to pull it back to his feet, very scary. 

It was Ulrik Samnoey however—five years after his first World Cup podium—who graced the top step with two flawless tricks: a switch left triple cork 1800 safety to indy truck and and left triple cork 1980 safety to indy truck, the latter of which scored the highest of the day. His immaculate execution and the added difficulty of the stylish double grab is what put him out in front for the judges. In an era where everything needs to be scrutinised, Ulrik’s tricks were near-on perfect, with the indy truck at the end of tricks adding an extra flavour. 

“I’ve been working so hard for this and putting it down today, and getting a victory lap, made everything worth it.” Ulrik told Chad in the finish area.

With only one more World Cup Big Air before the big O-Show in Livigno, and four first time winners in the last two contests, it’s anyone’s game as the season approaches its sharp end.