The final big air World Cup of the 2023/24 season went down on Friday at the Copper Mountain Visa Big Air, and it was, quite simply, one of the most mind-blowing FIS Snowboard competitions of all time, with Japan’s Hiroaki Kunitake earning his first career World Cup win for the men, and his compatriot Kokomo Murase making history by stomping two never-been-done-in-competition tricks, back-to-back, on her way to earning the highest big air World Cup score of all time and the women’s victory.
MURASE MAKES HISTORY WITH BACKSIDE TRIPLE CORK 1440
Murase began her day at Copper by stomping the switch frontside triple cork 1260 Indy that earned her top spot in Wednesday’s qualifications, earning herself a score of 97.25 and serving early notice that the Visa Big Air would be hers to lose.
It was in run two that the 19-year-old absolutely blew the roof off of the competition, as she dropped in, lined up for a backside spin, and almost casually threw down a trick that no woman has ever before landed (at least to public knowledge) – a backside triple cork 1440 Weddle grab.
With three perfectly dipped corks, a grab through the majority of the rotation, and a landing so stomped it could have been a straight air that came before it, Murase would write her name once again in the annals of snowboard history, earning an unheard-of score of 99.75, for a combined total of 197.00 and perhaps the most emphatic victory in FIS Snowboard big air World Cup history.
However, she wasn’t done there.
On her third and final run, a victory lap, Murase dropped in and proceeded to make it back-to-back never-been-done-in-competition tricks, as she stepped up to a switch frontside triple cork 1440 Indy, making it three landed triple corks in one competition. Which is, of course, yet another never-been-done in women’s snowboarding.
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