High hopes as big air hits Beijing

However, the big air discipline's reigning world champion Ryoma Kimata of Japan, who finished third in Chongli, his compatriot Hiroto Ogiwara, last year's winner in Shougang, and Italy's spinning trick specialist Ian Matteoli will be keen to break up the party.

In the freeski discipline, China also has a serious medal contender in Liu Mengting competing in a strong women's field, led by British phenom Kirsty Muir, last week's winner in Chongli, and Swiss star Mathilde Gremaud, a multiple world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in big air at Beijing 2022.

"I am very excited to be back here in Beijing. It's such a good jump, such a good facility for us to ski at. Overall, I think I will be enjoying the competition very much here," said Muir, who's racked up six World Cup medals across both big air and slopestyle disciplines since 2021.

Dropping in together with Liu, last week's bronze winner, looking for a breakthrough podium finish will be another Chinese rising skier Yang Ruyi, who finished a disappointing 14th at the season opener in Chongli, and at seventh last year at Shougang.

A total of 177 athletes have signed up for the freeski and snowboard qualification rounds on Thursday and Friday, respectively, with the final sessions set to take place on Saturday.

Chad Buchholz, media coordinator from the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, said everything is all set for an Olympic-standard event at the World Cup series' fourth visit to the landmark venue.

"I think it's been said many times that this is one of the finest, if not the best, big air facilities in the world, where we've had some incredible competitions here over the years," Buchholz said on Tuesday.

"The quality of the organization, the facilities and the competition continue to get better every year. We've seen some just fantastic competitions here over the years, and I'm looking forward to a really strong competition on the second of our three straight World Cup events in China."

Next week in Chongli, the world's best freeskiers and snowboarders, led by two-time Olympic champion and fan favorite Eileen Gu, will descend at Chongli's Yunding Snow Park for the finale of the Cup series' China swing in the halfpipe discipline.