Laax, October 17, 2022. The LAAX OPEN is expanding: Europe's most prestigious snowboard contest is opening its doors to freeskiing. The internationally renowned event is thus adding another promising freestyle discipline to its program. At Crap Sogn Gion, 2,252 meters above sea level, around 300 riders from all over the world will compete in the FIS World Cup from January 18 to 22, 2023, against the backdrop of an impressive 360° mountain panorama.
Freeski athletes are bringing new momentum on two boards. But the implementation is not really new, explains Event Director Donald Nader: "Since parks were built in Laax, freeskiers and snowboarders have been sharing them. Laax has also embraced freeskiing in the contest scene by hosting the European Freeski Open from 2006-2011 and 2014-2016. So it was only natural to include freeskiing in the LAAX OPEN."
Just as freestylers in Laax have been performing tricks together for years on the same freshly shaped features in the four snow parks, the same will happen at the LAAX OPEN in slopestyle in 2023. The snowboard finals are scheduled for Saturday, January 21, 2023, and the freeski finals for Sunday, January 22, 2023. The highlight is and remains the snowboard night final in the halfpipe (January 21, 2023). In 2022, future Olympic champions Chloe Kim and Ayumu Hirano thrilled the crowd here, as did superstar Shaun White and Swiss local Jan Scherrer.
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You can find the press release here as a PDF file. Free image material for editorial reporting is available on request.
