Italian siblings Flora and Miro Tabanelli have claimed their respective crowns at the FIS ANC Premium Freeski Slopestye Finals presented by La Roche Posay & Cardrona Alpine Resort. As yesterday’s top qualifiers through to finals, it was no surprise to see the Tabanelli siblings in the top spots on the women’s and men’s podiums.
Flora put down a technical rail section, including a backside 450 out of the flat rail, into a switch 270 on, continuing 270 out on the down rail and stomping a frontside 450 off the cannon. She rounded out her run with a switch left bio 900 on the third jump that really stood out to the judges to take the win with the only score posted in the 90’s for the women’s competition.
Ruyi Yang of China finished in second place and Elaina Krusiewski of the USA rounded out the podium in third.
Flora explained; “I feel really good and also I really love this place [Cardrona], I love to be here and I am happy to have won the gold. It means a lot to have my brother here today too, I love to travel with him because I get to have part of my family with me.”
Flora’s older brother Miro put together a very strong top to bottom run, which included a super fed on the transfer rail and a frontside corked 810 off the cannon rail. On the jumps Miro laced together a right double corked 1080, left double corked 1260 into a switch left double corked 1620 with a tail grab on the final jump.
The men’s division was tightly fought, with only three points separating the podium. Lucas Ball of New Zealand finished in second place, with Leonardo Donaggio, also of Italy, completing the podium in third position.
Miro said; “It feels amazing, today was perfect – the weather, the condition the of the park and I am excited to have put down my first run. A huge congrats to all the riders as they killed it. It’s insane to be out here with Flora, she is my biggest inspiration so I am really happy.”
Kiwi Lucas Ball (Nelson) also had a standout performance, finishing in second place in the men’s competition. He explained; “I am super stoked, there was such a high level of skiing today, I am happy to land and share the podium with two super sick skiers. My favourite tricks today were the switch double corked bio 1260 that I did for the first time in competition and the double corked 1620 mute grab on the last jump.”
Jason Arens, Head Judge explained; “Overall, all the competitors stood out today, the top three in both fields specifically. The winners [Flora and Miro] were really clearly defined, we saw a very high level of skiing overall. The women put down some really good rail runs and the men put down some very consistent runs from top to bottom, including quite a few 1620 rotations on the jumps that was very progressive for this field.”
Today’s event wraps up the the second Slopestyle Australia New Zealand Cup (ANC) event of the 2024 season, with the valuable points counting towards the overall ANC series. The Kiwi or Australian winner of the series will be granted a personal FIS World Cup start for the upcoming Northern Hemisphere season, a hugely valuable opportunity for those athletes with their eyes set on the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The Winter Games NZ programme continues tomorrow (Friday 6 September) with the Freeski Halfpipe World Cup qualification that has been bought forwards a day to allow to the best possible weather window. Domestic livestream will be available on the Winter Games NZ website.
