Over on the men’s side of things it was the general consensus that Taiga Hasegawa would be nearly impossible to beat on Monday, as the 17-year-old came into competition as the reigning Bakuriani 2023 World Champion from March, as well as the slopestyle Junior World Champion from last week in Cardrona. And with another gutsy performance, Hasegawa proved that consensus correct.
Haswegawa lead off his finals in Cardrona with a statement trick, putting down a near-perfect cab 1620 frontside grab for a score of 92.00 that had him well in the lead after run one. However, after washing out on the landing of on run two, Haswegawa was left standing at the top of the drop-in for the final run of the afternoon needing a stomp if he was to become a two-time Junior World Champion in 2023.
And that stomp is just what he provided, going the other way with a regular frontside 1620 frontside grab for a score of 92.25, giving him a total of 184.25 and a dominant big air gold.
Second place behind Haswegawa was New Zealand’s own Rocco Jamieson, who also kept his spins flat with a backside 1440 Indy and a frontside 1440 frontside grab, ending up with a score of 162.00 and the silver medal.
Rounding out the men’s podium and claiming the bronze medal was Italy’s Ian Matteoli, who put on a technical clinic with his two jump combo of cab 1440 Weddle to tail grab and frontside 1440 frontside to nose grab, racking up a score of 157.00 for efforts.
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