Park and Pipe - 2022/23 Season Wrap

The 2022/23 international snow season was one for the history books for Australia’s Park and Pipe athletes.

The season saw Australian snowboarders and freeski athletes bring home two Crystal Globes, two World Cup wins, seven World Cup podiums, two World Championship medals and three X-Games medals.

Snowboard Park & Pipe

There’s no denying the name Valentino Guseli was on everyone’s lips this season as the 18-year-old created history as the first snowboarder to podium in halfpipe, big air and slopestyle all in the one season.

With four World Cup podium performances, including one gold and three silver, plus World Championships big air silver, Guseli brought home the overall Snowboard Park & Pipe Crystal Globe, as well as the Snowboard Big Air Globe. He finished second in the overall world rankings for snowboard halfpipe and third in slopestyle. Valentino also won his first X-Games medal with superpipe bronze from Aspen.

Adding to his already impressive resume, dual Olympic medallist Scotty James won halfpipe gold at the Copper Mountain World Cup to kick off his season with a bang. He followed this with silver at the Laax World Cup before claiming his fifth X-Games gold medal in Aspen. James narrowly missed out on a podium at the World Championships, finishing in fifth place.

Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Tess Coady kept growing her trophy collection, with slopestyle silver at the Silvaplana World Cup, big air bronze at the Bakuriani World Championships in Georgia, and slopestyle silver at the Aspen X-Games. She also placed fourth in slopestyle at the world championships, a mere 0.2 points off the podium.

Dual Olympian Emily Arthur recorded her best-ever World Championships result, with ninth in the women’s halfpipe in Bakuriani. She also recorded her equal best World Cup result, placing sixth at the Laax event in January.

19-year-old Meila Stalker, 17-year-old Jesse Parkinson, and 16-year-old Sascha Elvy also represented Australia on the snowboard park and pipe World Cup circuit this season, demonstrating the exciting depth coming through the P&P pathways programs.

Freeski Park & Pipe

In the park and pipe freeski events, Beijing Olympian Abi Harrigan achieved her best World Cup result in Laax in January, with a 12th place finish in the women’s slopestyle. She also placed 13th in slopestyle in Bakuriani, Georgia, equalling her best World Championships result from the 2021 event in Aspen.

Mabel Ashburn made her World Cup and World Championships debut this season, placing 13th in women’s slopestyle on debut in Laax. Ashburn was joined by Cameron Waddell at the Silvaplana and Tignes World Cups.

Park & Pipe is the only discipline yet to hold their 2023 Junior World Championships event, which forms an important part of the selection process for the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games. The Junior P&P World Championships will be held in Cardrona, New Zealand from 28 August to 8 September 2023.

Over the coming weeks snow.org.au will continue to wrap the international season as we breakdown the 2022/23 campaigns in Ski & Snowboard Cross, Cross Country & Ski Mountaineering and Alpine Skiing & Snowboard. You can click here for our Freestyle Skiing wrap featuring our amazing results in Aerials and Moguls, and click here for our Para Snowboard and Para Alpine wrap
 

After a remarkable season for our Park & Pipe athletes, we look forward to celebrating all athletes at the upcoming 2022 Snow Australia Awards on Thursday 27 April in Melbourne.

Don’t miss Australian snowsport’s night of nights - book your tickets now.