Murase and Boesiger open the season with career-firsts at the Big Air Chur

As mentioned, the veteran Gasser stomped a cab double underflip 900 mute and a backside 720 melon to finish in second behind Murase with a score of 150.00, giving the 30-year-old Austrian her 13th big air World Cup podium and moving her into second place all-time behind her compatriot Stefan Gimpl.

More importantly, perhaps, is that Gasser’s performance on Saturday gives her a strong start to a season in which many tout her as the favourite to repeat as big air gold medallist at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

Third place on the day was Canada’s Jasmine Baird, who earned her first career big air World Cup podium on the strength of a cab double underflip 900 mute and a backside 720 mute for a score of 148.75.

BOESIGER THRILLS SWISS CROWD WITH HIS CAREER FIRST

On the men’s side of things we saw a whole lot of crashing, as some of the world’s very best riders struggled to put down the landing gear on their gnarliest tricks on a Big Air Chur set-up that seemed to get slipperier as the sun went down. In fact, there were so many washouts that a rider like Mark McMorris (CAN) was able to move from last place to fifth overall simply by landing a triple 1440 on his final hit.

However, none of that takes away from the performance of Jonas Boesiger, as the local favourite embraced the pressure and stepped up in front of a sold-out Big Air Chur crowd. Stomping a first hit backside 1620 mute and a frontside triple cork 1440 mute on his second run, Boesiger would earn a combined score of 162.00 for the landmark victory.

When none of his closest competitors was able to catch Boesiger with their final runs, Switzerland’s hero of the night was able to finish things off with a stylish victory lap frontside 540 before getting mobbed by his teammates in the finish area.