Sena Tomita Is The Snow League’s First World Champion
Just four women were eligible for The Snow League World Championship title headed into the finals day at Laax: Sena Tomita, Mitsuki Ono, Rise Kudo, and Maddie Mastro. Two of those riders didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals.
Sena Tomita was one of those riders, but it didn’t even matter. Tomita is the first ever Snow League World Champion. She’ll go home to Japan $160,000 richer.
Jenny Lang/The Snow League
Tomita entered finals day with a 13 point lead on Ono. Tomita and Ono went head-to-head in the quarterfinal matchup that ultimately could have decided the World Champion. Tomita took the win in the first of three runs of their matchup, but Ono got the edge in Run 2 with a score of 86.50 compared to Tomita’s 83.50. In the rubber match, Ono beat out Tomita 88.50 to 85.50 to advance to the semifinals against Sara Shimizu.
If Ono had advanced to the finals, she would have been able to take the title from Tomita, who waited at the top of the pipe, wearing her competitor’s vest over a jacket and an Oakland A’s baseball hat. All she could do was watch.
Ono lost to Shimizu in two runs, though, and fell on both of them. Tomita’s crown was confirmed.
It’s a huge win victory for Tomita, who has rode her snowboard great all year, but missed out on the podium in a super stacked field at the Olympics. She currently sits in sixth place on the FIS World Snowboard Points List.