Tuesday, April 5, 2022, will be a day long remembered in snowboarding. Within minutes of each other, Japanese snowboarder Reira Iwabuchi landed the world’s first frontside triple 1260 by a woman, followed shortly afterward by the second-ever women’s cab triple 1260 from Canadian Laurie Blouin. Both feats took place at The Nines ski and snowboard progression session in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.
Iwabuchi and Blouin thus join the exclusive club founded by Austrian snowboarder Anna Gasser—who stomped a cab triple 1260 in 2018—as the only women to land triples to date.
The 20-year-old Japanese rider, a multiple X Games medalist in Big Air, first tried the front triple 12 at the 2022 Beijing Olympics but wasn’t able to land it there.
“Ever since Anna did her cab triple I knew I had to do a triple. After I came so close at the Olympics, I really wanted to try again at The Nines.”
– Reira Iwabuchi
After watching Iwabuchi land her world’s first trick, Laurie Blouin promptly dropped in and landed her own triple.
“Honestly, when I started snowboarding, I never thought about doing a triple, and now we’re there. It’s pretty amazing to push yourself and push each other doing tricks. I really love that vibe. I’ve been thinking about it for so long, it’s just hard to have a good jump for it. The Nines is the perfect setup to try a triple because the jump is big, it’s good, it’s secure and you can just huck yourself. Work hard, play hard.”
– Laurie Blouin
Founded in 2008, the Nines is an unconventional event series with both winter and summer editions focused on providing a space for progression in action sports.
With a large snowfall and wind speeds of up to 100km/h forecasted at Plaine Morte Glacier in the coming days, weather conditions make it impossible for the organizers to prepare the setup in time to hold the public day scheduled for Saturday, April 9.
However, there’s still plenty of content in the pipeline from The Nines with comprehensive event video recaps and more on the way. Stay tuned to The Nines Instagram, YouTube, and website for more.
