Alex Hall, a.ka. A-Hall, kicked off his FIS competition season in style on Sunday earning his first World Cup big air victory in Modena, Italy.

“It feels good to end up on the top of the podium,” said Alex. “Our qualifiers were crazy rainy, but it cleared up for finals. The jump was really good and everyone killed it. It’s always fun to make finals and ski in front of an amazing crowd with all my friends here in Italy. It was an amazing evening.”

Fresh off collecting his second X Games gold at the Norway stadium big air event in September, Hall was able to keep the momentum moving into Modena. Alex held the lead throughout the entire competition. He landed all three of his runs, two of which scored in the 90’s and each with a unique variation of rotation and grabs. Alex flawlessly landed a left double cork 1620 cuban on run one, followed by a switch left double cork 1440 seatbelt to cuban on run two. Holding the top spot moving into run three, he would have the luxury of watching all riders drop before him. On his third and final run, knowing he had the win in the bag, Alex executed a perfect double tail grab for a very energetic Italian crowd. 

Alex’s win puts him in the top spot on the FIS Freeski World Cup Big Air leaderboard. In addition, his win is an improvement from his second-place finish at last year’s Modena Skipass Big Air. Although Alex has collected two World Cup slopestyle wins, Modena is his first World Cup win in big air. It’s not even December and Alex has two elite international big air wins in his back pocket.

Alex’s U.S. Freeski teammate Colby Stevenson also put on a great display of freeskiing including a beautiful left double cork 1440. Colby briefly moved into fourth place after his final run, but finished the competition in sixth place. 

Resembling an almost identical podium from 2018, last year’s winner Birk Ruud from Norway finished second, and Switzerland’s Andri Ragettli finished in third. For the women, Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud won the event, followed by Swiss teammate Giulia Tanno in second, and Canada’s Dara Howell in third. 

It was a beautiful night for competition in Modena Italy to kick-off the World Cup freeski big air circuit. World Cup big air competition continues for U.S. Snowboard and Freeski athletes at Air + Style Beijing Dec. 12-14, followed by the Visa Big Air presented by Land Rover at SunTrust Park in Atlanta, Ga. 

RESULTS
Men’s freeski big air
Women’s freeski big air 

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