Olympic Big Air champ Gasser claims World Cup title in Beijing

BEIJING - Olympic gold medalist Anna Gasser stated her form here on Saturday, winning the Air+Style FIS snowboard Big Air World Cup Beijing as Japanese sensation Reira Iwabuchi committed a big crash on her final jump.

Gasser, who trailed Iwabuchi and her countrywoman Miyabi Onitsuka at the season's second World Cup three weeks ago in Modena, Italy, almost made sure of the victory after jumping to court-best 94.00 points at her first attempt.

The 27-year-old Austrian added more weight through her second jump after scoring 88.25 and piling the total to 182.25, though her third and last jump was a disaster with the score of 27.50 which just came out to be denied.

"I had a really good competition," said Gasser. "I'm really happy I could land my first round."

"All the girls are riding really good in practice, so I knew I had to go straight in doing a cab double ten in the first round, and then my safe trick cab double nine, and my last round I still tried double ten but unfortunately I couldn't land it. But it was enough to win," she added.

Japan's first world champion Onitsuka was the second on 176.00 points, while Laurie Blouin from Canada finished the third at a further 20-point.

Iwabuchi, who dominated the first two World Cups earlier this season, came out last of the six finalists on 137.50 though she edged Gasser by 1.25 points to rank first in Friday's qualifications.

The 17-year-old sensation is one of the biggest stories of Big Air so far this season after lifting trophies in both Cardrona and Modena.

Air+Style Beijing, which was initially introduced to China in 2010 as one of the three Air&Style stops around the world and upgraded last year to be a recognized FIS-A official event, is the third stop of the Big Air World Cups this season.

The Nov 23-24 tournament, held in the National Stadium, known as the Bird's Nest, has drawn about 70 athletes from 23 countries and regions.