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BIG AIR CHUR Snowboard World Cup kicks off the winter season Oct 22-23

BIG AIR CHUR brings the live audience a mix of freestyle sport and urban music. At the first FIS Freeski and Snowboard World Cup 2021/2022, freestyle athletes will inaugurate the Big Air ramp in the Obere Au area in Chur and open up the Olympic winter. Nine international and national acts will provide top-class live music. The Skate Park, Guest Zone, Bündner Village, Gastrozone and the Promenade and Party Mile with over 20 DJs will be offering vibing variety from the early morning to late at night. Public admission goes hand in hand with COVID rules – vaccinated, recovered or tested. Advance ticket sales start on Friday 20 August 2021, at 8 AM CEST via www.ticketmaster.ch. 

Live festival with top-class freestyle sport and music

“With the BIG AIR CHUR, we want to mix the sports experience with the concert experience to create a unique event according to the motto: 1+1=3,” says René Götz, project manager of BIG AIR CHUR.  With the First Event AG (Swiss subsidiary of Live Nation, the worldwide market leader in music festivals), organizers Wolfgang Sahli and René Götz bring crucial experience with them and their team. For the sports section, they have professional experts on board and hosts Canton of Graubünden and the City of Chur are also enthusiastically behind the Incity event. Chur’s mayor Urs Marti says: “Chur is a lively and urban city. The BIG AIR CHUR Festival, therefore, fits in perfectly here, and I hope it will become a permanent fixture in Chur’s event calendar!”

The Obere Au offers a spacious area for live events with an audience as well as space for music stages and the Big Air steel frame. The event will, of course, be provided with its own COVID-19 protection concept via the cooperation of the FIS and Swiss-Ski associations with the town of Chur and the organizing First Event AG, so that spectators, as well as riders, crew, teams, artists, media, and services, are protected. 

FIS Freeski & Snowboard season opener

To date, a total of 160 freestylers from over 25 countries have been registered by their national associations to take part in the premiere event. Women and men will use the same construction in both freeski and snowboarding. 650 tonnes of steel will be used for the 40-metre-high and 110-metre-long Big Air discipline.

The starting field in snowboarding is shining with international greats such as the Big Air Olympic champions from 2018, Anna Gasser from Austria, and Sebastien Toutant from Canada. Followed by the youngsters Kokomo Murase (JAP), Annika Morgan (GER), and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (NZL), who was constantly on the podium last season. Names such as current World Champions Laurie Blouin and Mark McMorris (CAN) as well as Staale Sandbech (NOR) guarantee exceptional tricks performances over the kicker in aficionado circles.

Freeski will not be celebrating its Olympic baptism of fire until 2022 where athletes from all over the world will have to qualify. Also super stars like Eileen Gnu (CHN), James Woods (GBR) and Henrik Harlaut (SWE). The best way forward would be with a top performance at the BIG AIR CHUR. A home game for the strong Swiss team? Well, with Sarah Höfflin and Mathilde Gremaud from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the Swiss team is a podium contender. Kim Gubser, who made the leap to the top of the world in the spring of 2021 with a bronze medal at the World Championships, is also a hot commodity.

Whether the Graubündner locals Giulia Tanno and Big Air World Champion Andri Ragettli will return to the contest following injuries at the end of October still remains to be seen – but they will be on location nonetheless to experience the spectacle of the Big Air and the live concerts first hand. 

Apache 207, Jan Delay & Disko No. 1, Sido
The music line-up trumps the trumpet with hip and popular German rap. Three stadium bands Apache 207 (Friday), Jan Delay & Disko No. 1 and Sido (both Saturday) will have festival fans partying at the very thought of a live concert.

Programme overview:

Friday, 22 October 2021

Live over the Big Air:
FIS Freeski World Cup with qualifications, night finals.
Live on stage:
Apache 207, Breitbild, Nura, LIV & Geesbeatz 

Saturday, 23 October 2021

Live over the Big Air:
FIS Snowboard World Cup with qualifications, night finals
Live on stage:
Sido, Jan Delay & Disko No. 1, Lo & Leduc, Mimiks, Danitsa

Website: www.bigairfestival.com
Tickets from 20.08.2021 from 8 AM on: www.ticketmaster.ch and at Tourist Office Chur
Admission only with COVID vaccinated, recovered and/or tested certificate.

Media portal BIG AIR CHUR:
https://medien.bigairfestival.com/
Media contact BIG AIR CHUR:
Astrid Nehls, astrid@services-sbc.com
+41 79 9024215 +43 676 4314410