Flying high at Crap Sogn Gion:
Julia Marino and Liam Brearley take LAAX OPEN 2024 victories in snowboard slopestyle
Lightning blue skies, white mountains in a 360° panorama, thousands of fans and winter sports enthusiasts and a perfectly groomed slopestyle course – the impressive backdrop at Crap Sogn Gion above Laax is just right for the performances of the snowboard pros. The 20 finalists show progressive runs in this first FIS Snowboard World Cup of the season. Tricks like Cab Double 9 on the Shark Fins, Back to back 1620 on kickers, Backside 5 in the Quarter – breathtaking, skyward, simply stylish.
US rider Julia Marino, who also won the LAAX OPEN in 2020, is the best master of the seven features in the women’s category. Annika Morgan from Germany finished in second place, her best ever World Cup result: “I can’t believe it! It was totally crazy for me in terms of the turns, I was really excited. It’s unbelievable that it ended up being my best slopestyle result.” Anna Gasser, the two-time Olympic champion in Big Air, comes third. None of the three are newcomers to the LAAX OPEN podium.
The men’s podium, however, was very impressive: Canadian Liam Brearley received the highest score of the day, 89.93 points. He thus takes his first LAAX OPEN title and enters the
big footsteps of his compatriots Mark McMorris, Seb Toutant and Max Parrot. Ryoma Kimata from Japan and Cameron Spalding (CAN) follow in second and third place.
The highly rated teenagers Kokomo Murase (JPN) and Mia Brookes (GBR) finish the LAAX OPEN 2024 in 5th and 8th place respectively.
LAAX OPEN Media contact: Astrid Nehls