Monster Energy's Freeski & Snowboard Athletes Take Wins At Jossi Wells Invitational 2023

The world's most hardcore snow sports competition does it again! Monster Energy congratulates its team of snowboard and freeski athletes on claiming major awards across categories at the 2023 Monster Energy Jossi Wells Invitational at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand.

In the invite-only snow sports competition featuring A-list riders from across the world, the award for Snowboard Rider of the Week in the Men category went to 17-year-old team rider Taiga Hasegawa from Aichi, Japan. Based on her performance, 16-year-old Mia Brookes from Sandbach, United Kingdom earned the Women's Snowboard Rider of the Week trophy.

When it was time to crown the Style Master of the Week in Snowboarding, top honors went to 20-year-old Dusty Henricksen from Mammoth Lakes, California. In the Freeski category, 20-year-old Edouard Therriault from Lorraine, Canada, received the honors for Style Master of the Week for the second consecutive year in the Jossi Wells Invitational.

Presented by Monster Energy, the 2023 Jossi Wells Invitational attracted elite snow sports athletes to New Zealand from September 14-17. The event was started in 2016 by iconic New Zealand freeskier and six-time X Games medalist Jossi Wells, still in charge of hand-picking all riders in the event.

This year, the Jossi Wells Invitational was scheduled to feature three competition disciplines in both freeski and snowboarding: Rail Jam, TC Shoot-Out, and the legendary Big Air. But as fate would have it, gusting winds eliminated the Big Air day and turned it in to a knuckle huck session.

Despite strong winds, 17-year-old team rider Taiga Hasegawa from Aichi, Japan managed to throw down a triple cork 1980 on the canceled Big Air. He was one of few riders to hit the jump. The Japanese young gun now owns 1980-degree rotations in four different directions: backside 1980, Cab 1980, frontside 1980, and switch backside 1980! For throwing down hammers on every single day of the Jossi Wells Invitational, Hasegawa received the Rider of the Week Award for Men's Snowboard.

In the Women's Snowboard category, the Rider of the Week Award went to a rider going hard all through the competition: When the dust settled, 16-year-old Mia Brookes from Sandbach, United Kingdom, brought home the award on the strength of her technical rail tricks and effortless riding style.

Speaking of style, the Jossi Wells Invitational once again awarded the most elegant performance with the Style Master of the Week trophy. In Snowboarding, the rider to take the top vote was no other than 20-year-old Dusty Henricksen from Mammoth Lakes, California, for his signature hands-down execution on the most gravity-defying tricks.

In the Freeski category, the vote for Style Master of the Week was unanimous: Canadian team rider Edouard Therriault from Lorraine, Canada, proved the last rider off the hill and sessioned the knuckle in the rain and howling winds hours after the other athletes went home. "EdJoy" skis with a style and energy entirely of his own making, which is why his second consecutive Style Master of the Week Award at the Jossi Wells Invitational was well-earned.