Team Challengers take the win at the Snow League World Challenge at Cardrona

The Team Challengers featuring kiwis Mischa Thomas and Fin Melville Ives topped The Snow League’s inaugural World Challenge at Cardrona over the weekend.

Difficult weather brought competition to an early close, with semifinal results determining the final team standings. Despite the shortened competition, Team Challengers finished the semifinals as the points leader. Yamada, Melville Ives and Thomas each won their respective divisions, while Shimizu finished second.

The Team Challengers were a favourite from the start. Fin Melville Ives, competing in his first competition since the Olympics, wowed the crowd with a top-scoring run featuring a Tokyo Drift flair. “I was just really hyped to do these tricks. I've never really done them in comp before.”

Mischa Thomas also pushed progression within the format, landing a progressive switch alley-oop flat 540 and a stylish carve back to alley-oop 360. “It was a really cool thing to compete on a team, having that kind of atmosphere and support for each other.”

Fellow kiwis Cam Melville-Ives and Luke Harrold competed for Team Asia-Pacific which came third in the overall standings. Harrold achieved a second place on behalf of his team, and Melville-Ives a third placing.

The Snow League now moves to Season Two, with World Championship titles up for grabs, and a full field of 60 athletes set to compete.

● Event One at Buttermilk at Aspen Snowmass, CO, USA | January 7–9, 2027

● Event Two at Park City Mountain, UT, USA | January 21–23, 2027

● Event Three at LAAX, Switzerland | March 11–13, 2027