Laax, January 23, 2021. As soon as it got dark, the floodlights came on in the impressive superpipe at Crap Sogn Gion for the absolute highlight of the LAAX OPEN 2021, the women's and men's night finals. In the first halfpipe competition of the FIS Snowboard Tour 2020/21, Olympic champion Chloe Kim (USA) and Yuto Totsuka (JPN) were crowned the winners of the most prestigious snowboard contest on European soil, each taking home CHF 15,750.
The women opened the final in the 200-meter superpipe. Mitsuki Ono, gold medalist at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games, took the lead after her first run with plenty of amplitude ahead of her two Japanese teammates. Both defending champion Queralt Castellet (SPA) and top favorite Chloe Kim (USA) failed to complete their runs. The second run thus promised pure thrills with the two top favorites at the bottom of the rankings. Spain's Castellet took another big risk but crashed again on the 1080 on the second hit. Last to start in the pipe was semi-final winner Chloe Kim, who, lying in fifth place, showed nerves of steel and delivered the best run of the evening, which the judges rewarded with 89.75 points (Backside Air Frontside 1080 Tail, Cab 720 Weddle, Front 900 Tail, McTwist Indy). This put her at the top of the field by a clear margin at the last minute. An incredible performance by Chloe, who celebrated her comeback here with her third LAAX OPEN title after almost two years out: "I am so grateful that I managed my second run, even though I was totally nervous. I'm very happy to be back!" Japan's Mitsuki Ono (76.50 points) and Sena Tomita (75.75 points) completed the podium. Young German Leilani Ettel finished the final in a strong 4th place.
Then came the men's final, which was dominated by the duel between Scotty James and Yuto Totsuka and showcased what was arguably the highest level of riding in the history of halfpipe snowboarding. But let's go back to the beginning. First, Ruka Hirano (JAP) delivered a phenomenal run, which earned him 88.25 points and the lead at that point, until defending champion Scotty James (AUS) took it from him with a technically demanding run (93.75 points). However, the four best riders from the semi-finals were still to come, including Scotty's biggest rival, Yuto Totsuka (JAP). The 19-year-old Japanese rider delivered a high-quality run that put him in second place, just behind Scotty (90.25 points). In the second round, none of the other riders came close to the scores of the two leaders. Nevertheless, it was clear that both Scotty and Yuto would take full risks to win the title.
Scotty couldn't beat his score. Yuto, on the other hand, wowed the judges with a run the world has never seen before. Perhaps even the best halfpipe run ever: frontside 1440 frontside grab on the first hit, followed by a combo that Yuto landed for the first time today – switch frontside 1260 frontside grab into switch backside 1080 weddle – and a backside 1260 weddle and frontside double 1260 frontside on the last two hits. Yuto was bursting with pride: "I'm so happy that I landed the switch back 1080 combo for the first time in my life." After three consecutive second places, Yuto Totsuka finally claimed his first LAAX OPEN victory. Ruka Hirano (JAP) completed the podium in third place. Germany's Andre Höflich surprised everyone with a very strong performance and narrowly missed the podium in fourth place. The three Swiss riders were unable to capitalize on their home advantage, with David Hablützel finishing sixth as the best of the bunch.
The LAAX OPEN 2021 ended on an exciting and high-quality sporting note. With this third night final and a total of 17 pipe finals in an OPEN contest at Crap Sogn Gion, they have joined the ranks of LAAX's successful history.
Red Bull TVwill broadcast the entire final live at 9:30 p.m. and later on demand.
All information about the event can be found atlaax.com/open.
The complete results are availablehereand in the pressDropbox, where you can also find additional images and media information for editorial publication.