As the Sochi Winter Olympics approach, slopestyle snowboarding — a freestyle event making its Olympic debut —slopestyle snowboarding)is rapidly gaining popularity.11In3November, the "Red Bull Cold Rush" was held at the Back Hill Art Space of Beijing ContemporaryMOMAMOMA, where global energy drink giant Red Bull announced its continued strong support for two top-tier international snowboarding events — the12th Red Bull Nanshan Open and the "Air & Style" Beijing Snowboarding Competition — as well as its sponsorship of Chinese professional snowboarder He Wei. The company will also host a touring screening of China's annual snowboarding film 《12cities host China's annual snowboarding film,Must Be》 in cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Compared to traditional alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding has only been introduced to China for just over a decade. Thanks to years of sustained promotion by the Red Bull brand, this emerging, trendy sport is now spreading rapidly at an accelerating pace.
The total prize money for the Red Bull Nanshan Open has been raised to7.5U.S. dollars
Snowboarding originated in the1960s in the United States and developed into a professional competitive sport in the1980s.1998At the Nagano Winter Olympics, snowboarding made its Olympic debut with two events: halfpipe and parallel giant slalom.UIn2006, the Turin Olympics added snowboard cross, and in2012, the International Olympic Committee announced that slopestyle snowboarding would become an official Olympic event starting with the Sochi Games. Compared to other competition formats designed purely for athleticism, slopestyle originates from everyday life and resonates more personally. Competitors ride along natural terrains, selecting their own jumps and features to perform tricks to the beat of live music. The event combines participation, spectator appeal, and innovation. In Europe and America, slopestyle has become a lifestyle highly embraced by youth. Of course, due to challenges in standardizing venues and rules, as well as weather dependency, slopestyle’s inclusion in the Olympics involved considerable debate.
, officially joining the ranks of top-tier global competitions.12The2014th Red Bull Nanshan Open will be held in1January1118-12will be held at the Nanshan Ski Resort in Miyun, Beijing, with the total prize money increasing from6$100,000 to7.5$150,000. The scale of the competition has further expanded, with a total of30international top snowboarders and8Chinese riders qualifying for the main event, including an increase in female participants to12athletes. Compared to the Sochi Winter Olympics, the course design of the Red Bull Nanshan Open is more compact, with shorter distances between jumps and features used for acceleration. The first two jumps are the most challenging and carry the highest scoring weight, demanding extremely high stability and fluidity in the athletes' maneuvers.
Domestic athletes can freely register for the qualification round to be held on2014January118,42025. This year’s qualification round has added10invited spots. “We’ve opened online registration—athletes just need to upload videos of their snowboarding tricks online and share them via Weibo using the hashtag@Red Bull Sports World. The organizing committee will select10athletes from the applicants to compete in the qualification round and cover their round-trip travel expenses,” explained tournament director Huang Xuefeng (Marco).
After a year of closed training, Xiaohu aims to set a new record with high-difficulty tricks
He Wui (Xiaohu), China’s top freestyle snowboarder, also appeared at the event that day. He is the first domestic rider sponsored by the Red Bull brand.23At 27 years old, Xiaohu achieved eighth place in the ninth Red Bull Nanshan Open, setting the best result for a Chinese male athlete in theWSTcompetition. After missing the tenth edition due to injury, Xiaohu returned to compete in the previous event after just over a month of training and finished in13place. This time, he comes well-prepared—over the past9months, he has undergone closed training in both China and New Zealand, focusing particularly on pushing the limits of trick difficulty. “This year I practiced a lot of new moves in New Zealand, but the one I’m most eager to land in the competition is definitely thedouble cork 900,” said Xiaohu. “Currently, under the protection of an airbag, my success rate with this move is about90%%.” In addition, he has solidified his performance on the frontside 540-degree spin, which previously had a lower success rate, and has now also mastered the switch 720-degree rotation.1080The 55-degree spin movement has also been solidified, and he has already mastered the switch 56-degree spin.900The 56-degree spin.
Xiaohu stated that he will make a strong push in the twelfth Red Bull Nanshan Open with theDouble Cork 9001260 (aerial switch backside 1260-degree rotation)—a move no one in China has yet landed. This trick was performed by last year’s champion, American snowboarder Jeremy “Twitch” Thompson (900With the 59-degree move — an unprecedented feat in China at the time — he made a powerful debut at the 12th Red Bull Nanshan Open. This move was the very one that had earned the previous year’s champion, American rider Jeremy Thompson, his title.Jeremy Thompson) winning move. Speaking at the event about this year’s Nanshan Open, Xiaohu confidently said, “This year is different from last year—I haven’t stopped training for a moment. I believe the results of my year-long focused preparation will surprise everyone!”
“FISE” Special Segment – Red Bull Airtime
In addition to the Nanshan Open, an international event originating in China, another top-tier snowboarding competition that has landed in China since2010also draws significant attention. In terms of competition format, “FISE” is an aerials contest. Unlike freestyle events that feature multiple jumps and obstacle combinations, riders only get one takeoff to perform high-difficulty aerial tricks. The event also features a grand live concert, where top-tier singers such as Wang Leehom, Chang Chen-yue, and Sun Nan have all performed on the “FISE” stage.
As aair & style(the organizer of “FISE”) global partner, since2012, Red Bull has introduced the “Red Bull Airtime” competition segment at the FISE Beijing event. Using advanced electronic timing devices, it measures the flight duration of each rider’s jump in real time. Among all riders who land smoothly, the one with the longest airtime wins the “Red Bull Airtime” title. Last year,16-year-old Japanese rider Yuki Kadono claimed the “Red Bull Airtime” championship with a3.466-second hang time and received5000in prize money. FISE founder Andrew said, “The introduction of the Red Bull Airtime segment provides both riders and spectators with a brand-new perspective to understand and appreciate the competition—it’s a highly successful innovation.” This year, on12,7, the FISE Beijing event will once again take place at the Bird’s Nest.
China’s Coolest Snowboard Film 《MUST BE》 Premieres
As the grand finale of the Red Bull Hot Snow Festival, the snowboarding film 《Must Be》, which took a year to shoot and produce, was finally unveiled in front of over400snowboarding enthusiasts. 《MUST BE》 is an annual snowboard film produced by Red Bull in collaboration withMellowparksandpmstudioStudios. It is also the sixth snowboard film made in China. 《MUST BE》, meaning “definitely” or “for sure,” represents the spirit of perseverance, never giving up, and daring to challenge. The film was shot in multiple locations including Beijing, Jilin, Xinjiang, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand, documenting the community and lifestyle of Chinese snowboarders, as well as the growth journey of China’s top snowboarder, Xiaohu.
After the grand celebration in Beijing, the “Red Bull Hot Snow Festival” will sweep through Jilin, Shenyang, Harbin, Dalian, Changchun, Xinjiang, Jinan, Shanxi, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other cities over the next month. 《MUST BE》 will also be screened in these locations, sure to ignite the passion of all snowboarding fans before the start of this winter season.