Laax, March 19, 2024. Last weekend saw the fifth edition of the popular KIDS LAAX OPEN. More than 300 children and young people from 17 countries took part in Switzerland's biggest freestyle contest for young talent this year. The promising young freestyle athletes showed great courage and skill in the snowboard slopestyle and halfpipe as well as freeski slopestyle and halfpipe disciplines.
Hundreds of children and teenagers gathered at Crap Sogn Gion from Friday, March 15 to Sunday, March 17, 2024 for this year's KIDS LAAX OPEN. The counterpart to the FIS World Cup LAAX OPEN for five to 18-year-olds took place for the fifth time last weekend. At the event, which is also part of the Swiss Snowboard Tour and the Swiss Freeski Tour, participants competed against their peers for three days – some with sporting ambitions, others simply for fun.
With style over rails and high up in the halfpipe
Due to high demand, the KIDS LAAX OPEN was extended from two to three days. In ideal conditions, the contest kicked off on Friday with the U15 and U18 categories in the freeski and snowboard slopestyle disciplines. Participants in these categories had the opportunity to collect FIS points, which qualify them to compete in higher-ranked FIS competitions, such as the European Cup. For the younger categories, things got serious on Saturday with the snowboard slopestyle discipline taking place in the ils Plauns Snowpark, which was specially prepared for the KIDS LAAX OPEN, and the freeski halfpipe in the superpipe at the NoName Snowpark, which, at 200 meters long, is the largest halfpipe in the world. The event concluded on Sunday with the snowboard halfpipe and freeski slopestyle disciplines.
Freestyle: A fringe sport is a thing of the past
The young freestylers took to the start line full of motivation, demonstrating courage and, last but not least, a great deal of skill. Several athletes from the Freestyle Academy LAAX base also impressed the judges with their clean runs in the snow. They secured top spots on the podium in various categories and disciplines and took home medals as souvenirs. "The level of skill among children and young people is getting better and better. This is certainly thanks to the increasingly professional organization in the clubs and training centers. Freestyle has arrived in popular sports," said Ivan Capaul, co-initiator of the KIDS LAAX OPEN and head of the Freestyle Academy LAAX.
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