Above: Julia Marino sliding into victory
Last weekend the 15th edition of the Freestyle competition Grandvalira Total Fight took place in Snowpark El Tarter, Andorra. This year they had the pleasure to introduce two new gold medallists to the podium, American Julia Marino and Swiss Michael Schaerer.
Miss Marino’s already made quite the name for herself after taking home two medals from X Games 2017 at the age of only 19 – gold in Slopestyle and bronze in Big Air. Quite a boss move considering this lady was entering the competition as a rookie and became the first female snowboarder to win two medals at the same Games in 17 years.
“The pleasure to introduce two new gold medallists to the podium, American Julia Marino and Swiss Michael Schaerer”
Last year’s winner, Yuka Fujimori, went on to the finals from the qualifiers with a shared best score with Judd Henkes. After a very exciting start to the day, Fujimori couldn’t beat Marinos winning score, and so Marino became the one to take home gold this year . With a Lipslide 270, 50/50 / FS 360 and Lipslide in the jibbing zones as well as a BS 720 melon, followed by an FS 540 and a 540 underflip in the kicker area, Marino had secured her place on the podium. The reigning champ Fujimori wasn’t too far behind and got second place with only 2.66 points less than Marino.