LAAX, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Way to
storm the podium! Monster Energy congratulates its team of
snowboard athletes on a dominant performance at the LAAX OPEN 2022
in Switzerland this weekend. In
the iconic freestyle snowboard competition on Crap Sogn Gion
mountain, the brand's team riders claimed victories in three out of
four contest events, plus a close second place in the fourth.
In the Women's Snowboard Slopestyle final on Saturday,
21-year-old Tess Coady from St.
Kilda, Australia, clinched the
victory and was joined on the podium by Germany's Annika
Morgan in third place. The competitive Women's Snowboard
Halfpipe event saw 21-year-old snowboard phenom Chloe Kim from Los
Angeles soar above the competition into first place. In
Men's Snowboard Halfpipe, 23-year-old Ayumu
Hirano from Murakami, Japan, sealed the win and the 2021/22 FIS
Crystal Globe Trophy with a dominant run. Rounding out a successful
weekend, 28-year-old Ståle Sandbech from Norway earned silver in Men's Snowboard
Slopestyle.
Started in 2005, the annual LAAX OPEN attracts the world's best
freestyle snowboarders to the award-winning resort in the Swiss
mountains. From January 11-15, 2022,
more than 180 riders from 32 countries competed in the FIS World
Cup event sanctioned by the World Ski Federation (FIS). Contested
in Slopestyle and Halfpipe disciplines, the LAAX OPEN 2022 also
provided a chance to score qualifier points for the upcoming 2022
Olympic Winter Games in Beijing as
well as 140,000 Swiss Franc in prize
money.
Here's how the weekend's action at the LAAX OPEN 2022 unfolded
for team Monster Energy:
Women's Snowboard Slopestyle: Monster Energy's Tess Coady
Dominates, Annika Morgan Takes Third
Place
On Saturday, the Women's Snowboard Slopestyle final featured
eight of the world's leading freestyle riders. Each contestant
received two runs to battle for a high score. Countries represented
included Australia, Austria, Germany, Japan, New
Zealand, Finland,
Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Designed by the Snowpark LAAX
crew, the downhill obstacle course encouraged creative lines with
numerous rail features, massive jumps, and a quarter pipe as the
final feature.
When all was said and done, 21-year-old Tess Coady from St. Kilda, Australia, had the bag of tricks and technical
consistency to claim the win in the heated final session. After
jumping to the top of the leaderboard on her first run, the
Australian Olympic snowboarder took her final run as a victory lap
and stoked the crowd by turning up the difficulty yet another
notch.
In the top section of the course, Coady finessed a Half Cab on
360 out the rail, wallride to crippler over the hip, and frontside
180 switch back 360 on the butter box. Charging into the jump
section, she followed up with a switch backside 900 mute, frontside
double 1080 Indy and a stylish backside air on the quarter pipe for
86.18 points and first place.
"I seriously can't believe it. It's so bizarre. I'm so stoked!"
said Monster Energy's Tess Coady
upon taking first place in Women's Snowboard Slopestyle at LAAX
OPEN 2022. "I was pretty nervous for this once since I haven't done
a competition since March last year. But I really did what I wanted
this week."
Tess Coady learned how to
snowboard at Perisher Mountain, one of the few winter resorts in
Australia. At the age of 17, she
entered the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics as the youngest
athlete on Australia's Olympic
team but suffered a complicated ACL injury. The resilient athlete
soon returned to winning form: In her breakout 2021 season, Coady
earned several FIS World Cup wins, bronze at X Games Aspen, and all
three available women's snowboard awards(!) at the Audi Nines
competition.
Also claiming a podium spot, Monster Energy's Annika Morgan earned a strong third-place
finish. After already claiming Big Air bronze at the FIS World Cup
event at Steamboat Resort a few weeks earlier, the 19-year-old from
Mittenwald, Germany, took her
first podium spot at LAAX OPEN.
In the technical section, Morgan blasted a transfer to lipslide
down the rail, wallride to front flip over the hip, and a frontside
180 to tail scraper over the butter box. On the jumps, she followed
up with a Cab double 900 mute, backside 1080 melon and a frontside
lien air on the quarter pipe for 76.61 points and third place.
Morgan is the younger sister of pro snowboarder Ethan Morgan. Her milestone achievements include
winning Snowboard Slopestyle on the 2019 World Rookie Tour and Big
Air silver in the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. Morgan will represent
Germany in the Beijing Olympics in
February.
Men's Snowboard Slopestyle: Monster Energy's Ståle Sandbech
Rises to Second Place
The level of competition escalated in the Men's Snowboard
Slopestyle event under blue skies. The twelve riders in the final
hailed from Australia,
China, Germany, Japan, New
Zealand, Norway,
the Netherlands, and United States.
In a field of rookies and teenagers, 28-year-old Norwegian style
icon Ståle Sandbech once again proved himself as a podium threat.
After losing the handle on Run 1, the winner of the 2015 LAAX OPEN
found his perfect line on the second and final run of the
session.
On the rails, Sandbech landed a backside 180 on Cab 360 off,
followed by a switch frontside lipslide 450 and backside Miller
flip bringback across the butter box. He then hit the jumps by ways
of Cab 1260 stalefish and frontside 1440 Indy, followed by an Indy
McTwist on the quarter pipe for 80.43 points and second place, only
half of a point behind American Sean
Fitzsimons in first.
A long-standing member of the Norwegian national snowboarding
team, Sandbech earned Slopestyle silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics
in Sochi. In 2021, he won the acclaimed X Games Real Snow video
competition, bringing his overall X Games medal count to seven (2
silver, 5 bronze). Outside the contest arena, the Norwegian is
known for his pioneering StaleLIFE video series on YouTube.
Women's Snowboard Halfpipe: Monster Energy's Chloe Kim Takes the Win
On Saturday night, the high-energy crowd on Crap Sogn Gion
mountain was treated to a spectacular show in the Women's Snowboard
Halfpipe final. Under the lights, each rider received two runs to
post a high score on the legendary LAAX OPEN Superpipe. With
22-feet-high walls and at over 650 feet in length, it's the world's
longest competition halfpipe.
After winning the competition at last year's LAAX OPEN and
qualifying into the 2022 final in first place, Monster Energy's
Chloe Kim dropped into the session
as the woman to beat. And straight out the gate, the Queen of the
Superpipe cemented her victory in the field of riders from
China, Japan, Spain,
and the United States with a
perfect first run.
Dropping into the LAAX OPEN superpipe with speed, Kim put
together a huge method air, frontside 1080 tail grab, switch
backside 540 melon, switch backside 540 Indy, and a massive Cab
1080 stalefish on the final wall for 90.25 points and first
place.
"It feels really great. It was the best experience. I love this
place so much and I always get so excited to come here," said
Monster Energy's Chloe Kim upon
winning the LAAX OPEN 2022. "The fans showing up watching us and
cheering us on was so amazing. And I'm just so happy that I was
able to land my first run."
The most decorated woman in halfpipe snowboarding, Kim won her
first U.S. Open halfpipe title in 2016 at age 15 and earned gold at
the 2018 Winter Olympics. After taking a break from competition in
2019 to focus on her studies at Princeton, she won every major event of the
2020/21 season including X Games Aspen, FIS Laax Open World Cup,
and 2021 FIS World Snowboard Championships. Chloe Kim was listed among the 'Most Influential
People of 2018' by TIME Magazine and was the 2019 ESPY winner for
Best Female Action Sports Athlete.
Men's Snowboard Halfpipe: Monster Energy's Ayumu Hirano Clinches
Dominant Victory
Ending an epic weekend of snowboard progression on a high note,
the Men's Snowboard Halfpipe evolved into a spectacular aerial show
under the floodlights. Stoking the crowd, the field of twelve
riders featured the world elite in the discipline, representing
Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and the
United States.
But in this elite group, including American snowboard icon
Shaun White, one rider came in as a
new favorite: Monster Energy's Ayumu
Hirano from Murakami, Japan. At the 2021 Winter Dew Tour event, the
23-year-old had made history by stomping the first frontside 1440
triple cork aerial ever landed in competition. One week prior to
the LAAX OPEN, Hirano took first place in the FIS World Cup Mammoth
Mountain.
Losing no time in the high-stakes final, Hirano put down a
perfect line for the ages on Run 1. Starting off with a frontside
1440 Indy on the first wall, he blasted switch backside 1440 mute,
frontside double cork 1260 Indy, backside double cork 1260 mute,
frontside double cork 1080 Truck Driver grab for 93.25 points and a
dominant win with what broadcast commentators called the 'best
halfpipe run in history'. On his second run, Hirano attempted to
raise the bar with his triple cork 1440 but could not secure a
clean landing.
"I'm really happy and stoked! I did well on my first run and
tried harder tricks on my second run. It felt really comfortable,"
said Ayumu Hirano upon winning the
LAAX OPEN 2022 and overall FIS World Cup Title. "I've been feeling
good so far and had no injuries. I've been progressing nicely and
want to keep riding well."
On the strength of Saturday's win, Hirano rises to the top of
FIS World Cup season standings with 250 points and claims the
2021/22 Crystal Globe trophy as the Overall Champion in Men's
Snowboard Halfpipe.
Hirano's competitive record includes two Olympic silver medals
in snowboard halfpipe (2014 and 2018) and two X Games gold medals.
He also won the 2019 Japanese National Championships in skateboard
halfpipe and competed in the Skateboard Park discipline at the 2020
Tokyo Summer Olympics.
For more on Chloe Kim,
Tess Coady, Ayumu Hirano, Ståle Sandbech, Annika Morgan, and the Monster Energy
snowboarding team, visit http://www.monsterenergy.com. Follow
Monster Energy on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok
for exclusive updates as the snow season continues.
###
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SOURCE Monster Energy