LAAX Open 2020

From 13 to 18 January 2020 for the fourth time the LAAX OPEN instead. They are considered Snowboard Event Highlight in Europe and guarantee snowboarding at its best. This includes high-quality contests in slopestyle and halfpipe for women and men, which are endowed with 200.000 CHF prize money. Music and parties complement the all-round freestyle lifestyle experience LAAX.

LAAX has been organising world-class freestyle events for 30 years, and we are continuing the long tradition and reporting on the events at first hand. board generation was present from 16 to 18 January, provided summaries of the day and, of course, their own footage.

In conclusion we can only say one thing: It was again LEGENDARY! No other competition event is as perfectly organized as in Laax and no other organizer knows how to celebrate snowboarding like this. We are grateful to be part of this history again after many years. Now we have to recover, because something was scarce in Laax, enough sleep...

90 minutes livestream of each of the finals in slopestyle - won by Julia Marino and Seb Toutant - and in halfpipe - won by Queralt Castellet and Scotty James - are available worldwide for free on www.redbull.tv to see.

18.1.2020: Summit meeting in the halfpipe night final

The LAAX OPEN 2020 ended today with the absolute highlight. After sunset, the long awaited night finale in the halfpipe was on the programme. Under floodlight, thousands of spectators followed the world's best halfpipe riders live in action along the LAAX Superpipe at Crap Sogn Gion. The Spanish Queralt Castellet and the Australian Scotty James won the exciting final. In addition to the prestigious LAAX OPEN 2020 Halfpipe title, they can also look forward to the trophy and CHF 25,000 prize money each.

Immediately before the first rider entered the world's largest halfpipe, light snowfall set in and created a magical atmosphere at the foot of the GALAAXY mountain station. In the women's race, the only remaining European rider, Queralt Castellet from Spain, was already clearly in the lead with her first run. She started with a high Lien Air, followed by Backside 900 Mute, Frontside 900 Melon, Air to Fakie and a Switch Backside 540 Mute as her last trick. Also in the second run, no lady from the strong field of participants came close to her score. The two Chinese ladies Xuetong Cai and Jiayu Liu also showed unbelievable strong runs and were happy about second and third place.
It was Queralt's first victory at the LAAX OPEN, after already finishing third in 2018 and second in 2019. After her Victory Run she said overwhelmed: "I am thrilled, a great dream has come true today. LAAX is my favourite snowboard resort with the best pipe. I am speechless!" Full risk was taken by the Japanese Haruna Matsumoto, who landed a Frontside 1080 in the second run, before she unfortunately stumbled in the next trick. She is currently the only lady in the World Cup circus who can do this trick.

In the men's final all eyes were on last year's LAAX OPEN winner Scotty James. He had won the last eight competitions in which he participated. And he dominated again today. Already with his first run he catapulted himself into unbeatable terrain. He started last in the first round and showed a perfect run consisting of a Switch Backside 1260 Indy, a Cab 1080 Mute Frontside 900 Nose, a Backside Double 1260 Mute and a spectacular Frontside 1440 Stalefish on the last hit.

With this Scotty led the strong driver field. Followed by Yuto Totsuka in second place, who showed a phenomenal first run with a Frontside Double 1440, a first in a halfpipe competition. All other riders had to take full risk in the second run to improve their scores. But no one was able to top Scotty and Yuto. But who should complete the podium? It was Taylor Gold, after the first run twelfth, who finally won everything. He also impressed the audience and judges with a trick that had never been shown in a halfpipe competition before: A Double Chuck 1080 Melon to Indy that catapulted him to third place. Like last year Scotty James was the last rider in the final and could therefore really enjoy his victory lap, including high-fives for the fans at the edge of the pipe. "I am totally happy, because I knew that it would be really hard to prevail against Yuto today. I was ready to go one better in the second run. I don't take anything for granted, but having such a victory lap is especially nice. Thanks to all the spectators who were here today, it really means a lot to me," said Scotty after his victory.
Once again, the Swiss Jan Scherrer took fourth place at the LAAX OPEN in 2020. The immense cheers of the audience compensated for the fact that he narrowly missed the podium. The 2014 Olympic champion, Iouri Podladtchikov, celebrated a great success after his injury in mid-February when he finished fifth.

For decades, LAAX has been all about freestyle and even today everyone could feel this spirit again. It is therefore not surprising that LAAX is the favourite resort of many riders from all over the world. Spectacular snowboard action combined with partying in the hangar at Crap Sogn Gion, followed by live music in the rocksresort performed by the Berlin electro-pop band MIA. made this day unforgettable. Already now the anticipation for the next edition of Europe's biggest snowboard event in 2021 is enormous!

17.1.2020: Slopestyle final day

On today's LAAX OPEN Slopestyle final day, the weather was once again on its best behavior and put a smile on the faces of the audience. Julia Marino (USA) and Sebastien Toutant (CAN) are the first LAAX OPEN winners of the new decade and can look forward to CHF 25,000 each.

In the field of the top 6 women, the US-American Julia Marino set the bar extremely high with her first run on the innovative course, including a Backside 900 Melon, a Cab Double Underflip Mute as well as a Frontside 720 Mute on the Kickerline. For this she was rewarded by the judges with the highest score of the day of 81.30 points. None of the other riders would come close to that score. "It was the best week of my life. The weather was perfect, the course great and the trick level enormously high", said Julia Marino about her first LAAX OPEN title. Reira Iwabuchi from Japan and Katie Ormerod from GBR completed the podium with second and third place. The youngest participant in the field, Annika Morgan from Germany, just missed the podium and finished fourth.

The men's final, where the slopestyle Olympic champion Red Gerard (USA) was leading for a long time, was exciting until the end. Then came the 2018 Big Air Olympic Champion Sebastien Toutant (CAN), who overtrumped him with a perfect second run, which included a backside 1440 mute and a frontside 1080 mute on the last feature. Seb Toutant had already won the Burton European Open Junior Jam in LAAX in 2008. He scored 87.25 points for his run today, knocking Norwegian Staale Sandbech off the podium. In addition to second-placed Red Gerard, his fellow countryman Justus Henkes was delighted with third place. Sebastien Toutant about his victory: "I have been coming to LAAX for many years and am proud to finally win here. It's just fantastic and a perfect start to the new year."

Tomorrow the LAAX OPEN 2020 continues with the first TAG TEAM Crossover Slopestyle Session at noon. The grand finale of the event will be the halfpipe night final at Crap Sogn Gion at 5:30 pm. The finale will be the free open air concert by MIA. at the rocksresort at 9 pm.

16.1.2020: Halfpipe semi-final

Once again the drivers and spectators were greeted with blue skies and sunshine at Crap Sogn Gion. The 200-metre long LAAX Superpipe presented itself glamorous and in perfect shape. Queralt Castellet (SPA) and Scotty James (AUS) dominated their heats and will be the top favourites to start in the halfpipe at the night finale of Europe's most renowned snowboard event on Saturday.

That it is the longest superpipe on this planet, I could feel myself. For the photos I walked up and down the pipe twice during the day and thanks to about 12 kilos of photo material on my back, I had a wonderful workout...

In the women's semifinals the highly traded US girls Maddie Mastro and Zoe Kalapos surprisingly didn't make it into the top 6, but for the first time five riders from Asia qualified for the final: Xuetong Cai/CHN (2nd), Jiayu Liu/CHN (3rd), Haruna Matsumoto/JPN (4th), Ruki Tomita/JPN (5th) and Leng Qiu/CHN (6th). The highest score of the day went to Queralt Castellet from Spain, who is no stranger to Crap Sogn Gion. She was already second on the podium at the LAAX OPEN last year. Castellet clearly dominated today's competition and is the only European to reach this year's halfpipe final.

Defending champion Scotty James (AUS) lived up to his role as favourite in today's men's semifinal and scored the highest points. The US-Snowboarding Team presented itself as strong as usual and entered the final with five riders: Taylor Gold (3.), Jason Wolle (5.), Ryan Wachendorfer (8.), Chase Blackwell (9.) and Toby Miller (11.) The Swiss fans can also look forward to a great show, as the four locals Jan Scherrer (4), Pat Burgener (6), Olympic champion Iouri Podladtchikov (10) and Dave Hablützel (12) will be in the impressive floodlit final on Saturday evening. Let's hope that the weather will play along somehow after all.

In tomorrow's slopestyle finals, numerous top riders promise spectacular snowboard action on the innovative course.