The best snowboard’s future stars from around the world gathered at the Kitzsteinhorn in Zell am See-Kaprun from 17th to 22nd March 2024 for the World Rookie Snowboard Finals to determine the 2024 Snowboard Champions. 106 riders from 23 nations cavorted in the Kitzsteinhorn Snowpark and showed that the future of the sport is in good hands. These riders are the stars of tomorrow and we will hear and see a lot more from the 2024 World Rookie Champions.
Slopestyle – With the best weather and parking conditions, the decision in Slopestyle was on Wednesday. In the rookies (U19) category, 15-year-old Norwegian Fabian Hertzberg impressed with a frontside and backside 1080 on the kicker and confidently won the World Rookie Champion Slopestyle title. In the girls’ category, the Chinese Shirui Xiong prevailed and thus brought the first World Rookie Champion title to China. In the Grom category (U15), the Japanese Hakuto Kitayama and the Belgian Sky Remans were crowned winners.
Halfpipe – On Thursday the focus was on the halfpipe. Despite a bad weather front, the youngsters performed well! Success across the board for Team Korea, as Lee Jio (Rookie Boys) and his compatriot Lee Suo (Grom Boys) beamed from the top spot on the podium. Among the girls, the Swiss Lura Wick (SUI) triumphed in the Rookie Girls category and won the World Rookie Tour title for the second time in a row, although in the U15 category in 2023. The American Boday Gabriella (USA) won this.
Head judge Iztok Sumatic was enthusiastic: “My highlight of the 2024 edition was the halfpipe competition. For both the girls and the boys, the top four places in particular showed demanding riding at a very high level. It’s best to memorize the names now because we’ll be hearing a lot more about these talents.”
Aside from the sporting competitions, the World Rookie Finals offered a variety of supporting events, from a tattoo workshop to a climate change workshop by the WSF (World Snowboard Federation) and POW (Protect Our Winters), to promote awareness of environmental protection and sustainability among kids and teenagers.
