Murase and Spalding win slopestyle, after finals cancelled

Kokomo Murase (Japan) and Cameron Spalding (Canada) have earned the crowns at the Winter Games NZ FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup.

While hopes were high for a proper finals showdown to open the 2024/2025 FIS Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup season, the weather made things challenging at Cardrona Alpine Resort. Despite best efforts, the finals were unable to be held and results were taken from the qualification round held on Saturday.

In the women's competition Kokomo Murase (Japan, 19) claimed the fourth Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup win of her career. She laced together a stylish cab 270 on, continuing cab 270 off with a tail press on the down rail, a huge back 900 with a tail grab on the first jump and and impressive frontside 1080 indy grab on the final jump.

Mia Brookes (Great Britain, 17), current Snowboard Slopestyle World Champion, finished in second place with her technical and clean rail section impressing the judges. USA's Rebecca Flynn (18) finished in third place, securing the first World Cup podium of her young career.

Brookes said: "It was definitely challenging but it was a sick place to do it, one of my favourite resorts [Cardrona Alpine Resort]. To just put down a run on the day is a big achievement in yourself, so I am hyped that I put a run down!"

In the men's competition Cameron Spalding (Canada, 19), 2023 Winter Games NZ Junior World Championships silver medallist, took the win in the tightly fought event, just 0.75 points ahead of Norway's Mons Roisland. This marked Spalding's first World Cup victory.

Spalding said; "I am over the moon...I was just trying to have as much fun as I could, especially when it's hard weather conditions. It can be tough, but at the same time snowboarding is an outside sport and we have to deal with weather everywhere we go so you just learn to deal with it over time."

Spalding put down a solid rail section with a 50/50 transfer backside 270 off the rainbow rail and a 270 on, 630 out of the cannon rail. He finished his run with bang, stomping a textbook backside 1620 with a tail grab on the third jump.

Roisland, Beijing 2022 snowboard big air silver medalist, impressed the judges with his frontside 270, 450 cork off the flat bar and his double cork frontside todeo 1080 with a frontside grab on the final jump.

New Zealand's Rocco Jamieson (Wānaka, 18) claimed his maiden World Cup podium with a third place finish in the men's competition. Jamieson pulled out his trademark double sloth roll pullback on the second jump to the delight of the home crowd watching from the top of the course.

Jamieson said; "It means so much, especially on home turf. It's pretty crazy, my first World Cup at home, I couldn't ask for anything more. I tried to add my own kind of tricks, different tricks, especially on a difficult day like that."

It was a great day for Kiwi snowboarding, with three men finishing in the top six, a line up that NZ hasn't seen since the Calgary Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup in 2010. Wānaka's Campbell Melville Ives finished in fourth place and Dane Menzies finished in sixth place.

Local legend Zoi Sadowski-Synnott finished in eighth place in the women's competition, meaning New Zealand had an incredible four riders in the top eight at the first Olympic Qualification event for Milano Cortina 2026.

The Winter Games NZ programme continues with the FIS ANC Premium Freeski Slopestyle this Wednesday and Thursday, before rounding out the 2024 programme with the FIS Freeski Halfpipe World Cup, presented by La Roche Posay & Cardrona Alpine Resort, on the 7-8 September.