Freeski big air and slopestyle preview

All of this being said and we still haven’t got to the reigning gold and silver medallists from PyeongChang 2018 – Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud, respectively.

It’s been a weird year for Hoefflin, with illnesses, crashes, and bad luck seeming to great her at every turn lately – most recently at X Games where she had to pull out of all competitions due to the lingering effects of a fall. Still, she managed runner-up podiums at both the Chur big air and the Stubai slopestyle World Cups earlier in the season, and if she’s feeling healthy she remains one of the world’s absolute best.

As for Gremaud, it’s kind of been the same story, with crashes and competition withdrawals dotting her season and only one World Cup start thus far this season – a sixth-place finish at the Stubai slopestyle.

However, she did manage to grab slopestyle silver at X Games two weeks ago, putting herself right back into the podium conversation ahead of Beijing 2022.

Another to watch out for on the women’s side of big air and slopestyle includes the reigning big air World Champion Tatalina Anastasia (ROC), who made history on her way to that gold medal last season by becoming the first women to spin both left and right side double cork 1260s in the same competition.

The list of potential contenders goes on and on – Maggie Voisin and Marin Hamill of the USA, Canada’s Olivia Asselin and Elena Gaskell, Joanne Killi of Norway, Kirsty Muir representing Great Britain…

THE ATHLETES – Men

PyeongChang 2018 men’s slopestyle podium

GOLD – Oystein Braaten (NOR)

SILVER – Nick Goepper (USA)

BRONZE – Alex Beaulieu-Marchand (CAN)

The biggest news leading up to Beijing 2022 big air and slopestyle competition on the men’s side of things has been the triumphant return to competition of reigning slopestyle World Champion Andri Ragettli (SUI) after suffering a serious knee injury at the end of last season.

The 23-year-old dropped in on his first competition in 10 months at the Font Romeu slopestyle in mid-January and promptly took a FIS Freeski World Cup record-breaking ninth win, before following that up immediately after by taking top spot at the X Games slopestyle contest, announcing that not only is he back, he might be better than ever.