TOKYO – After becoming Japan’s youngest Winter Olympics medalist at 17, snowboarder Kokomo Murase wants to add a new chapter to her career when she vies for the big air and slopestyle honors at the Milan Cortina Winter Games.
While her bronze medal in the big air four years ago in Beijing set a winter sports milestone for her country, the joy was short-lived for the youngster, who won the discipline at the Winter X Games at 13.
“The bronze medal made me happy at first, but frustration grew stronger as time passed,” said Murase, who finished 10th in the slopestyle at the 2022 Games. “I’m aiming for the top in both (this time).”
The Gifu Prefecture native’s craving for Olympic gold was rekindled as soon as she resumed training two months after the 2022 Games. But she managed just a single World Cup podium the following season, a testing period when she missed the world championships due to injury.
“It was a spell that had me reflecting on myself the most,” she recalled of the stretch that also coincided with a time when she was deliberating her future after high school, before deciding on continuing her pursuit of a career as a professional athlete.
“It made me realize again how much I loved snowboarding. I’ve decided that if I loved it so much, I’d ride for myself before anyone else.”
The renewed focus propelled Murase to her first big air gold at the 2025 worlds as part of a Japanese podium sweep in Switzerland, where she also came second in the slopestyle to show the world she was back at the pinnacle of the sport.
Murase then further stepped up her performances after the turn of the year, winning World Cup slopestyle gold and bronze before claiming the X Games’ big air in Aspen, Colorado, landing a backside triple-cork 1620, the first ever by a female boarder, per the organizers.
“It’s like a dream. Tears came out the moment I landed it,” said Murase, who will seek to overcome two-time reigning big air champion Anna Gasser of Austria at Livigno Snow Park for the Olympic gold.
“I didn’t lose out mentally on a big stage like that and produced my trick. I’m very happy. It gives me confidence,” she reflected.
AloJapan.com