Three weeks after winning the men's snowboarding big air world championship, 17-year-old Taiga Hasegawa won his first World Cup slopestyle competition on Sunday.
The win was his second on the World Cup circuit this season, following his victory in a big air event in January. Hasegawa scored 92.00 points to outpace Canada's Liam Brearley, who had 89.00 and Sweden's Sven Thorgren, who was third with 85.00.
Hasegawa was forced to bounce back from a poor first run.
"Being able to make adjustments for my second run makes me feel I've developed," Hasegawa said. "Winning big events, such as the world championships and the World Cup, gives me confidence. Next season I want to treat each and every competition as something special. I want to steadily get better."
Ryoma Kimata, who was second at the worlds behind Hasegawa, finished 14th. With the win in the fourth and final slopestyle event, Hasegawa finishes second in the discipline's season standings behind Dusty Henricksen of the United States.
