Recap Absolut Park Spring Battle & FIS Snowboard World Cup Flachau 2025
“It was a really big week”. The Spring Battle 2025 Slopestyle Awards go to Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and Liam Brearley (CAN).
Two ideologies should come together: The declared mission was to complement the independent elite snowboard competition, which has existed since 2002, with a FIS Snowboard World Cup. The Spring Battle Award Show marked the culmination of a week of high-level freestyle action in Absolut Park. Zoi Sadowski Synnott from New Zealand and Canadian Liam Brearley made the most of the innovative format, winning the Spring Battle with the best slopestyle runs ever performed. Local hero Anna Gasser took third place in slopestyle and also won the Best Rail Trick. It turned out that Spring Battle 2025 awarded the most WSPL points given in a competition in recent years.
“What’s important is that the freedom, flexibility, and innovation we have at Absolut Park and at the Spring Battle are preserved as much as possible. That was the premise for the whole project, and we saw that it works,” summarizes Absolut Park founder Seppi Harml. Even in spring weather, the first part of an intense week at Absolut Park was the Spring Battle. Without a thick rulebook, 100 men and 60 women had four competition days to film their best slopestyle run on video. Filmed with follow cams and high-speed drones, the format enabled freestyle snowboarding at the highest level. The demand for absolute perfection was the driving force for the riders, but it also showed the special challenges: "The Spring Battle is really cool, it’s something different, and you can be more creative. At the same time, it’s not that easy, to be honest, because you're aiming for perfection and performing at the highest level for four days, constantly trying to improve the run. So it’s also a different kind of stress compared to traditional competitions, where you have to perform in a short time. Here, you’re trying to get the best out of your run for four days," explains Anna Gasser.
Zoi Sadowski Synnott is also thrilled with the Spring Battle format: “The format is really sick, it’s different compared to the World Cup or X-Games. It took a while to get it going and I knew some of the other girls had already landed some runs. So once I landed, I was pretty hyped. It’s on your terms and you kind of just go how you’re feeling on that day and kind of give it your best, when you are ready, which is super sick.”
And how the 24-year-old New Zealander gave her best: With a Frontside Bluntslide 450 on the High Rail, Cab on to Flip off the Cannon Rail, followed by a Frontside 1080 and Backside 1260 to finish off over the two kickers, Zoi Sadowski Synnott clearly won the women’s slopestyle ranking ahead of Mari Fukada (JPN) and Austria’s Anna Gasser. She also now leads the overall snowboard world ranking WSPL with a perfect score of 1000 points.
The men’s field was also filled with top riders, with 100 participants, including Olympic champions Red Gerard (USA) and Yiming Su (CHN), 24-time X-Games medalist Mark McMorris and his Canadian colleagues Liam Brearley and Cameron Spalding, as well as the strong Japanese team with Taiga Hasegawa and Hiroto Ogiwara. Nobody wanted to miss the spectacle.
Liam Brearley landed his submitted run on the second last day and said: “It’s super sick, you have multiple days to film the line, so everyone comes into the contest thinking they have so much time to film a line. You know, it’s pretty chill, and then it ends up being pretty intense trying to get that line. Super sick to see all the creative and different lines go down. It’s an amazing contest and you are having fun riding with everyone, that’s the best part.”
With a 270 to 5-0 Stall on the Wallride, a Backside 180 on to the Cannon Rail with a Cab 7 off, followed by a Switch Backside 1440 double grab and a Cab 1800 on the kickers, 22-year-old Liam Brearley showed the hardest run in the Spring Battle setup and took the win. In addition, the Canadian took the lead in the WSPL ranking. Dane Menzies from New Zealand placed second, ahead of Norwegian Oyvind Kirkhus.
Not only was there the slopestyle competition, but the Spring Battle Best Rail Trick was also held at the custom-built setup right in front of the Chill House. Many of the riders took the opportunity and tried their skills on the rails after their slopestyle runs, while others focused only on that. Both snowboarders and freeskier were judged. Anna Gasser managed a perfect Switch Lipslide Transfer 270 on her first attempt, winning her the title ahead of Paula Benito (ESP) and Laura Zaveska (CZE). "Winning the rail trick is definitely the highlight of the week for me. A lot of people don’t really see me as a rail rider. It’s cool to be up there with the best,” Anna said about her somewhat unexpected success.
In the men’s snowboard category, Petr Ershov (RUS) won closely followed by local hero Clemens Millauer.
During the week at Absolut Park, not only did two snowboard worlds collide, but the weather couldn’t have been more different. After spring during the Spring Battle, winter returned for the FIS Snowboard World Cup Flachau. Snowfall and poor visibility made it impossible to hold the men’s contest, so there was a final result only for the women’s competition. Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) struck again and won the World Cup ahead of Annika Morgan (GER) and Mari Fukada (JPN).
The Spring Battle Award Show on Friday evening seamlessly transitioned into the afterparty at the new Dips&Drops Sports Hotel in Flachau, where the beats of scene DJ Stylewarz played throughout the night.
The Spring Battle 2025 is now history, but the 25-year success story of Absolut Park in Flachauwinkl is far from over. To see all the runs and tricks in detail again, it’s best to check out the replay of the Spring Battle Award Show on the Absolut Park YouTube channel.
