Cover photo: Mateusz Kielpinski/FIS

The first Big Air event of the season went down in Chur, Switzerland this evening, and love 'em or hate 'em comp season heralds the coming of winter. Skiing is back. There were a few notable absentees from the start list, Sarah Hoefflin (pulled out with a light injury), Alex Hall & Colby Stevenson (didn't travel) among them. But in qualis, it was sick to see Elias Syrja back on the start list. The comeback for the king is fully on, even if he narrowly missed finals this time around. Chur offered up a big ol' jump with ample speed for both the guys and girls and an even bigger crowd. It's sick to see freeski so well attended despite the questionable weather. But FIS needs to decide something about poles in Big Air. I'm actually mostly a no-poles guy myself but it so clearly makes it easier to grab that they either need to be mandatory or banned (which would be the wrong decision) to level the playing field.

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Women:

Run 1:

The first run saw a smattering of crashes but Sandra Eie put down a clean right dub 10 japan for 87.5. She slightly tickled the grab but still scored 87.5. Kirsty Muir was close to putting down dub 12 safety but too much compression took her out in the transition. Mathilde Gremaud also went down on dub 12 with a narrow under rotation, but Olivia Asselin stomped left dub 10 with steeze and authority for 89. Tess Ledeux went to Gucci on her dub 12 mute and deservedly took a commanding lead with 93.00

Run 2:

Kateryna Kotsar, out of Ukraine, put down a second trick of the day with a cork 9 tail. It wasn't clean enough to challenge the top sports, sick to see her crushing though. Megan Oldham went too big on her dub 10 for the second jump in a row which essentially put her out of the running. Sandra Eie went close on the mirrored dub 10 from her first run but couldn't quite put it down. Mathilde Gremaud was under serious crowd pressure but managed to put down a left dub 12 nonetheless for 91.75. Olivia Asselin lost the axis a bit on her switch left dub wobble and couldn't put it down leaving her requiring a final run stomp. Tess Ledeux went the opposite way this time round, on a dub 10 safety, but it wasn't the cleanest, pinning her score at 72.5 and leaving the door open to the competition for the final jump.

Run 3:

It wasn't Kirsty Muir's day today and her normally consistent switch bio 9 also went too deep. Kateryna somehow stayed up on a forward 1080 tail, which is for sure just as hard as the dubs but it wasn't the cleanest, unfortunately. Mathilde put it down clutch in her final run with a switch dub 10 safety and despite a slight double hand touch it was enough for a provisional lead. Olivia Asselin couldn't put down the switch 10 but Sandra Eie did stomp her left dub 10 safety and clean too, enough for 83.00 and a move into the provisional lead. But it wasn't to last. Tess put down the rightside dub 10 safety perfect at second time of asking and 88.00 was more than enough to take the W.

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Men:

Run 1:

Hannes Rudiger opened proceedings with a banger dub 16 dub blunt for 87.5, and the grab was dank, more of that please. Noah Porter Maclennan (nope me neither), put down a cool dub 18 stale. Javier Lliso went to the moon on a switch dub misty 18 safety but scraped a hand and got docked for it. Birk Ruud did his thing as he always does, dub bio 18 mute, super stomped, 93.00. The crowd noise for Andri Ragettli in his home comp was something to behold. Definitely, a hair-raising moment and he put down a switch dub misty 18 for 91.75. Troy Podmilsak, who qualified first, sent a right triple 18 mute to the bottom but just got a smidge too front seat and couldn't hold it.

Run 2:

Hannes went right triple 16 double mute, clearly liking the double grabs, and stomped clean for 90.25. Noah put down the switch dub 18 mute, his second 18 of the night but scraped a hand, still scoring 90. Hugo Burvall put it down but narrowly missed the second of his tail-to-tail grab combo and it killed his score. The switch left dub 9 mute to bring back Birk Ruud dropped was bonkers. Honestly, I don't really know what it was, let me know in the comments, but he scored 95.75 and took a commanding lead. It was definitely bonkers. Andri put down something of a safety run with a left dub 16 blunt but it was perfect, scoring 85.5 for third place behind Hannes. Troy put down the right triple for 94.75 and put himself back in contention with run one to go.

Run 3:

Leonardo Donnagio opened things with a perfect dub 18 blunt but unfortunately, he was already out of the running. With the pressure off, Jesper put it down too, switch dub 9/10 bring back to 7, and only scored 77.25 (no idea why). Troy stomped a switch right dub 16 mute, but it wasn't the biggest... 85.0 and enough for a provisional second when combined with the huge second run score. Noah PM improved his first run dub 18 stale, boosting his score for that trick to 90, enough to bump Troy down. Andri put down a left dub 16 dub blunt clutch... the crowd were expecting a podium but the judges said no... it was probably underscored honestly. Hannes couldn't put down a dub 19, leaving Noah and Troy locked in for the podium and Birk with a comfortable win and a dub backie victory lap. Ultimately, it was a deserved huge 8+ point win, we'll be seeing more of those from him this season on this evidence.