[Benji Farrow. Photos: Marcel Lammerhirt]

The first LAAX OPEN kicked off with a fantastic competition day. A white winter paradise with blue bird and sunshine welcomed the international snowboard scene on the Crap Sogn Gion, above LAAX.

30 men from 10 countries and 19 women from 6 different nations performed today in the world longest halfpipe. In the open qualifiers the youngest as well as the experienced riders had a lot of fun and showed their skills. The best 6 ladies and best 12 men advanced to the halfpipe semifinals, scheduled for Wednesday. There they will have the chance to compete with international top riders like the reigning Olympic champion Iouri Podladtchikov from Switzerland, X-Games winner, Danny Davis from USA, World Champion Arielle Gold (USA) and Olympic silver medalist Torah Bright from Australia.

Tuesday’s program includes the open qualifications in Slopestyle, starting at 8.30 pm followed by the creative festival in the rocksresort from 2.30-7 pm. For all information follow the event website www.laax.com/open.

LAAX OPEN 2016: Results Qualification Halfpipe, January 18, 2016

Men
1 Benji Farrow (USA) 92.71
2 Ikkou Anai (JPN) 87.57
3 Matthew Cox (AUS) 85.85
4 Patrick Burgener (SUI) 84.14
5 Ayumu Nedefuji (JPN) 79.85
6 Yuto Totsuka (JPN) 78.00
7 Raio Kuchisubo (JPN) 71.14
8 André Hoeflich (GER) 70.85
9 Alexander Kondo (USA) 67.71
10 Markus Malin (FIN) 66.28
11 Johann Baisamy (FRA) 65.85
12 Victor Ivanov (SUI) 62.14

Women
1 Sophie Rodriguez (FRA) 93.00
2 Kurumi Imai (JPN) 91.85
3 Nadja Purtschert (SUI) 84.14
4 Carla Somaini (SUI) 82.71
5 Verena Rohrer (SUI) 79.85
6 Sina Candrian (SUI) 75.42