The LG Snowboard FIS World Cup Big Air circus rolled into the South Korean city of Seoul over the weekend, and drew a crowd of 300,000! Could Stefan Gimpl maintain his dominance of the 2009/10 Big Air events? This was one of the highest profile comps, pushed very hard by the city. The 34 metre high and 100 metre long ramp had a brilliant kicker, and a fantastic location – the Gwanghwamun Square, with the jump built on the Gwanghwamun Gate.

29 riders from 10 countries turned up for the three days of fun and games. Saturday’s highlight was the Seoul Snow Jam, with the LG Big Air on Sunday. Stefan Gimpl was there to maintain his push for the overall Big Air champ, in the end he beat the current world champ Markku Koski, but only into third place. That’s because the 22 year old Swiss, Gian Luca Cavigelli, nailed his runs to take the Seoul title, and was the only competitor to land a backside 1080.

The Big Air probably ended up in Seoul as the Koreans are shooting for the 2018 Winter Olympics to be held in Pyeongchang. With TV coverage in170 countries around the world it was probably ‘mission accomplished’ for the Mayor of Seoul Oh Se-hoon.  If they provide facilities like the ones for this event they could be onto a winner.

After Seoul the rankings are: Gimpl (3,800 points), Cavigelli (3,100), and Kazuhiro Kokubo (1,600). Here’s some slightly shaky video from the event.