The weather has played a big role in the FIS Freestyle & Snowboard World Championships in Utah and dealt one final card to the event with heavy winds and an approaching storm that caused the cancellation of the men’s and women’s Snowboard Slopestyle event on Sunday.
Since the qualification round had gone off properly on Saturday, the standings from qualifying were made final. That meant Chris Corning of the U.S. (93.25) and Zoi Sadowski Synnott of New Zealand became World Champions.
“I can’t argue with the decision, there were definitely safety concerns,” Corning said. “It sucks, but it is what it is. It was really happy with my run yesterday. It was hard to see and probably one of the scariest contest runs I’ve had to do in a long time. I was looking forward to today to ride. But I’ll take it, because I planted my run yesterday pretty solid.”
Canada’s Mark McMorris earned the silver at 93.00 and American Judd Henkes, 17 (90.50) earned the bronze.
Olympic bronze medalist Sadowski Synnott, 17, ascended to the top of the podium thanks to a near-perfect ride the day before. “I really liked the course,” she said. “I thought it had a really nice flow. I love the options for the rails. They gave you a ton to experiment with and get creative with. I was really stoked with yesterday’s run. I dropped second from last, I put down my first run and was really, really happy. I got my rail line and then my jump suite which I hadn’t been getting in practice.”
Silver went to Norway’s Silje Norendal and the bronze to American Jamie Anderson, Olympic gold medalist in this event in 2014 and 2018, but a first-time World Championships medalist.
“I was honestly pretty sad they canceled the finals,” said Anderson, “There are a lot of mixed emotions. I was on the podium but I still wanted to have a chance to ride better. But there were definitely some gusty winds, and in the end they made the best decision.”
As for the weather scorecard, the men’s and women’s Snowboard Big Air events were not held at all, and the Freestyle Slopestyle was also canceled. Summaries:
FIS Snowboard World Championships
Park City, Utah (USA) ~ 1-10 February 2019
(Full results here)
Men’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): Cancelled due to bad weather.
Men’s Halfpipe: 1. Scotty James (AUS), 97.50; 2. Yuto Totsuka (JPN), 92.25; 3. Patrick Burgener (SUI), 91.25; 4. Toby Miller (USA), 90.00; 5. Kent Callister (AUS), 79.00; 6. Ikko Anai (JPN), 75.75; 7. Derek Livingston (CAN), 73.75; 8. Yiwei Zhang (CHN), 61.25.
Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Dmitry Loginov (RUS); 2. Tim Mastnak (SLO); Small Final: 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER); 4. Vic Wild (RUS).
Men’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Loginov (RUS); 2. Ronald Fischnaller (ITA); Small Final: 3. Baumeister (GER); 4. Dmitry Sarsembaev (RUS).
Men’s Slopestyle (final placings based on qualification scores): 1. Chris Corning (USA), 93.25; 2. Mark McMorris (CAN), 93.00; 3. Judd Henkes (USA), 90.50; 4. Hiroaki Kunitake (JPN), 89.75; 5. Takeru Otsuka (JPN), 89.50; 6. Niek Velden van Der (NED), 87.50; 7. Mons Roisland (NOR), 83.75; 8. Sebbe de Buck (BEL), 82.50. Also in the top 25: 11. Red Gerard (USA), 72.50.
Men’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff (USA); 2. Hanno Douschan (AUT); 3. Emanuel Perathoner (ITA); 4. Lucas Eguibar (ESP). Small Final: 5. Jake Vedder (USA); 6. Baptiste Brochu (CAN); 7. Paul Berg (GER); 8. Leon Beckhaus (GER).
Women’s Big Air (at Canyons Village): Cancelled due to bad weather.
Women’s Halfpipe: 1. Chloe Kim (USA), 93.50; 2. Xuetong Cai (CHN), 84.00; 3. Maddie Mastro (USA), 82.00; 4. Queralt Castellet (ESP), 81.00; 5. Arielle Gold (USA), 79.00; 6. Verena Rohrer (SUI), 75.00; 7. Kurumi Imai (JPN), 74.50; 8. Elizabeth Hosking (CAN), 60.25.
Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Selina Joerg (GER); 2. Natalia Soboleva (RUS); Small Final: 3. Ladina Jenny (SUI); 4. Milena Bykova (RUS).
Women’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Julie Zogg (SUI); 2. Annamari Dancha (UKR); Small Final: 3. Ramona Hofmeister (GER); 4. Maria Valova (RUS).
Women’s Slopestyle (final placings based on qualification scores): 1. Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL), 91.75; 2. Silje Norendal (NOR), 88.75; 3. Jamie Anderson (USA), 87.25; 4. Cheryl Maas (NED), 84.25; 5. Reira Iwabuchi (JPN), 82.75; 6. Jasmine Baird (CAN), 82.50; 7. Klaudia Medlova (SVK), 78.50; 8. Brooke Voight (CAN), 78.25. Also in the top 25: 19. Julia Marino (USA), 47.50; 20. Hailey Langland (USA), 43.50.
Women’s Snowboard Cross (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Eva Samkova (CZE); 2. Charlotte Bankes (GBR); 3. Michela Moioli (ITA); 4. Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 6. Raffaella Bruto (ITA); 7. Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 8. Carle Brenneman (CAN).
Mixed Snowboard Cross Team (at Solitude Mountain)/ Big Final: 1. Mick Dierdorff/Lindsey Jacobellis (USA); 2. Omar Visintin/Michaela Moioli (ITA); 3. Paul Berg/Hanna Ihedioha (GER); 4. Emanuel Perathoner/Francesca Gallina (ITA). Small Final: 5. Loan Bozzolo/Chloe Trespeuch (FRA); 6. Baptiste Brochu/Carle Brenneman (CAN); 7. Merlin Surget/Nelly Moenne Loccoz (FRA); 8. Kalle Koblet/Lara Casanova (SUI).
