Snowboarding
Watch the full replay of the halfpipe showdown at Europe's biggest snowboard contest, where Iouri Podladtchikov and Liu Jiayo took home the titles.
This year, the Laax Open was more of a powder fest than the planned showcase of snowboarding excellence. Training started off with bluebird skies and perfectly shaped venues for both slopestyle and halfpipe, but last the vent progressed, heavy snowfall and strong winds rolled in to the Swiss resort.
While the Swiss shapers tried to clear the course of fresh snow, they just couldn't keep up with mother nature's abundance and since the variable snow changed the approach speed for the huge booters, and high wind made huge airs simply too dangerous, the organisers had to pull the plug the slopestyle competition.
Luckily, the halfpipe comp got the go ahead, though, and there was home success for Swiss rider Iouri Podladtchikov, who scored a strong 90.5 points to take a deserved win in the men's contest, followed by Japan's Yuko Totsuka and China'sYiwei Zang. The women's field meanwhile was dominated by China, with Liu Jiayo taking the win over Xuetong Cai, while Spain's Queralt Castellet claimed third.
Watch a full replay of the Laax Open 2018 Halfpipe finals in the player below:
Laax Open 2018 Women's Halfpipe results
Laax Open 2018 Men's Halfpipe results
