TOKYO – Eighteen-year-old Mari Fukada led a Japanese big air podium sweep in the women’s snowboarding World Cup opener in China on Saturday as Reira Iwabuchi and Miyabi Onitsuka also medaled.
Fukada won the opening event of the season for the second year running after scoring 78.50 and 78.25 for the two best scores from three attempts to total 156.75 points in Secret Garden in Zhangjiakou, although her win came in the absence of two-time reigning Olympic winner Anna Gasser of Austria.
“I’m really happy to start the World Cup season so well,” she said on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation website. “Everyone is getting so good these days, so I’m happy I can compete with all of the girls.”
Iwabuchi came second on 145.75 and Onitsuka filled the podium logging 141.50.
In the men’s event, Japan’s Ryoma Kimata came third on 158.50 as reigning Olympic champion Su Yiming from China won on 174.50, followed by his compatriot Ge Chunyu on 159.50 in second.