Head to head brackets are set for Friday’s finals, fans around the world can watch the action live in more than 175 countries worldwide. Freeskiing is set to debut on Saturday.
CHONGLI, China (December 4) – Event Two of The Snow League at Yunding Snow Park featured a full day of snowboard qualifying with Olympic champion Ayumu Hirano (JPN) and Mitsuki Ono (JPN) leading the field of 16 athletes (eight men and eight women) advancing into Friday’s final.
Qualifying Day brought intensity from the start. Thirty-six snowboarders were split into heats for two runs each, plus a Last Chance Qualifier. With the world’s top snowboarders on deck, the level rose rapidly with triple cork 1440s unleashed early on in the men’s field and massive 900s and 1080s in the women’s field pushing scores sky-high.
In the women’s field, number-four ranked Snow League athlete Mitsuki Ono clinched the top score of the day of 86.66 in heat four to lead the women’s field into finals. Her run started off with a perfect frontside 900 nearly ten feet out, she maintained amplitude throughout, linking up a backside 540 Weddle, into a frontside 720 truck driver, a Cab 720 Weddle and finishing with a frontside 540 tailgrab.
Ono said through an interpreter, “I’m really happy. Everything went the way I practiced. I was able to execute what I’d been working on as I planned.” Looking ahead to Friday’s finals, she said, “The one-on-one battle is going to be tough, but the harder battle is the one with myself. If I can conquer that, I’ll be happy.”
The Snow League World Championship Standings leader Sena Tomita (JPN), the winner of Event One at Aspen Snowmass, led heat one, with Gaon Choi (KOR) and Brooke D’Hondt (CAN) topping their heats. They are ranked by highest score and seeded #1-4 going into Finals Day. They’re followed by seeds #5-8 which were awarded to the top four scores from the Last Chance Qualifier including Rise Kudo (JPN), Patti Zhou (CHN), Xuetong Cai (CHN), and Queralt Castellet (ESP).
In the men’s field, Ayumu Hirano (JPN) put down two incredible runs in qualifying, with his second run topping the field and earning the days’ top qualifying score of 96. Hirano improved on his first run, starting off with a switch backside 900 Weddle, into a Cab double cork 1440, a frontside 900 tail grab, into a backside double cork 1260 Weddle, finishing with his legendary frontside triple cork 1440 Indy.
Hirano shared his thoughts on tomorrow’s finals through a translator, saying that he understands The Snow League head-to-head format better now (after Event One in Aspen), but that his goal is to continue to stay focused on his own riding.
Yuto Totuska (JPN), The Snow League World Championship Standings leader coming into Event Two, earned the top score from heat one of 94.33—the only other athlete to break into the 90s. Cam Melville Ives (NZL) topped heat two, landing the event’s first triple cork, with a Cab triple cork 1440, and Alessandro Barbieri (USA) led heat four. They are seeded #1-4 going into Finals Day. Seeds #5-8 from the Last Chance Qualifier include Ruka Hirano (JPN), Ryusei Yamada (JPN), Chaeun Lee (KOR), and Shuichiro Shigeno (JPN) advancing.
Friday, December 5, Finals Day will feature a head-to-head, best two-of-three run format, requiring the athletes to drop in from both sides of the halfpipe. The brackets below have been seeded based on qualifying results.
Women’s Finals Bracket
Men’s Finals Bracket
On the line are Snow League World Championship points and a share of the $370,000 snowboard purse to be split equally between genders. Both podiums offer $50,000 for first, $20,000 for second, and $10,000 for third. Prize money extends to all finalists, with fourth place earning $5,000 and the remaining four finishers receiving $2,500 each.
All 52 competing athletes (36 snowboarders and 16 freeskiers) receive a $5,000 appearance fee as part of The Snow League’s goal to elevate snowboard competition. Freeskiing will make its highly anticipated debut on Saturday, December 6, for the inaugural Snow League freeski competition. Headlining the 16-athlete field is Olympic champion Eileen Gu (CHN), joined by 12 Olympians including Cassie Sharpe (CAN), David Wise (USA), Nick Goepper (USA), Rachael Karker (CAN), and Gus Kenworthy (GBR).
How to Watch The Snow League
The Snow League will be available for viewing in more than 175 countries worldwide, through an unprecedented lineup of television, streaming, and digital media partners spanning six continents, inviting fans everywhere to experience the action live from Yunding Snow Park.
NBC and Peacock will present coverage of The Snow League in the United States. Peacock will host live streaming of all freeskiing and snowboarding finals beginning at 8:30 pm ET on December 4 and 5. NBC will air two recap shows starting with snowboarding on Sunday, December 21, from 4:30 to 6 pm ET, and freeskiing on Sunday, December 28 from 2 to 3 pm ET.
Viewers in China will have access to live coverage, highlight shows, and social media distribution across China’s most influential sports and digital platforms including Tencent (Tencent Sports, Tencent Video, Tencent News, and JIGUANG TV) and Migu (WeChat, QQ, Weibo, and Bilibili) and Youku. Great Sports TV will air prime-time highlight programs with multiple encore airings, along with live streaming of both competition days on both Douyin and Xiaohongshu featuring six hours of live coverage with Chinese commentary on December 5 and 6 (9:00 am – 3:00 pm China Standard Time).
Viewers in Canada will be able to watch live streaming on CBCSports.ca and Gem, with recap shows on Game+ television network.
Viewers across Europe can watch live streaming on HBO Max and Discovery+, with recap shows on Eurosport 1.
The complete global listings are available at this link.
About The Snow League
Launched in June 2024, The Snow League is the first professional winter sports league dedicated to snowboarding and freeskiing. Founded by three-time Olympic gold medalist and entrepreneur Shaun White, Season One features a four-event global format boasting a $2.2 million season purse, with athletes competing to earn points to determine the overall champions. The season kicked off at Buttermilk in Aspen Snowmass (March 7–8, 2025), heading next to Yunding Snow Park, China (Dec. 4–6, 2025), where 16 of the world’s top freeskiers will join the roster at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games venue. The League returns to Aspen (Feb. 27–28, 2026) and concludes at LAAX, Switzerland (March 19–21, 2026), where the first-ever Snow League World Champions will be crowned.
Follow The Snow League on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
MEDIA CONTACTS
The Snow League
