As The Olympics Approach, World Cup Snowboarding Starts This Week In China

It's never been easy to watch the World Cup circuit, but hopefully, this is the year that changes.

The season starts Friday, November 28, 2025 at Secret Garden in China. Big Air is the only event scheduled to go down this weekend. It will be available to watch online at skiandsnowboard.live, an InFront-owned website.

Being the beginning of the season, there are several riders that won't be present just yet. Mia Brookes, the 2025 overall Park and Pipe and Big Air Crystal Globe winner, will miss the contest in China. So will Anna Gasser, the Australian who spent much of the summer recovering from a shoulder injury.

But several other heavy hitters will be there. Mari Fukada tied Brookes in FIS Big Air points last season, but lost the Crystal Globe in a tiebreaker. She'll be joined by American 16-year-old Lily Dhawornvej, who made the finals in four out of six World Cup appearances last year. Kokomo Murase and Reira Iwabuchi will be there, as well as Momo Suzuki. Kokomo - who is a bit of a style queen - will be joined by her 18-year-old sister Yura Murase.

Japan's Taiga Hasegawa won the 2025 Crystal Globe for both Park and Pipe and Big Air as well. He'll be in China to defend his crown, and follow up on a season that saw him make the podium four times in nine contests.

Fellow Japanese riders Ryoma Kimata, Hiroto Ogiwara - who threw down a 2340 at the X Games in January - and Yuto Miyamura will all compete at Secret Garden as well. This will be an important contest for Canadian Eli Bouchard, who is battling with Mark McMorris and Frank Jobin for one of the two remaining spots on the Canadian Olympic team.

FLYP Fantasy and Snowboarder have teamed up to bring you a fantasy snowboarding league for the 2025-2026 season. You can join that at this link here.

I'll be picking my first fantasy team later ahead of this contest. Here are six riders - three men and three women - I've locked in for my squad.

Men:

Taiga Hasegawa: It's hard to pick against the reigning champ.
Hiroto Ogiwara: This is a FIS event, and judges love spins. Last year's X Games showed that Ogiwara can spin with the best of them.
Mons Roisland: Kind of a sleeper pick, despite an Olympic pedigree.

Women:

Kokomo Murase: She just landed the world's first backside triple cork 1620 by a women in a training run. Let's see it under the bright lights!
Lily Dhawornvej: Call her the gladiator, because I've never not been entertained by her riding. Hopefully she's rocking the bright pink helmet.
Annika Morgan: Always stylish. Often underrated.