Birk Ruud and Tess Ledeux win first Big Air Freestyle Ski World Cup event of the new season 

If the crowd at Big Air Chur Festival is anything to go by, the 2022/23 big air season is going to be spectacular.

Big air freestyle skiing made its long-awaited competition return on Friday 21 October and it did not disappoint.

It was Birk Ruud and France's Tess Ledeux who took the top spots on the podiums after an action-packed event full of good energy, music, fun and epic action on the ramp.

Skiers had three attempts to land their best tricks and their best two scores counted.

Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Birk Ruud set the tone of the night earning a 93.00 score after stomping a clean first jump. He took the lead and never looked back.

Local hero, Swiss acrobatic king Andri Ragettli scored 91.75 for his first jump and tried to knock Ruud off his perch but the Norwegian was in a class of his own.

On his second jump, Ruud threw down a switch left double 900 bring back which only propelled him further ahead with a score of 95.75. A trick that was somewhat defying the law of physics and helped him take the victory.

Speaking after his win, Ruud said, "I'm really stoked to do a new version of a pretzel I guess you could call it. I'm really happy to be one of the first in competition to do that manoeuvre. It's a new way to do this trick and it paid off, so it's exciting."

18-year-old Troy Podmilsak from the USA is an up-and-coming athlete we're excited to see in action this season and he showed more of his promise on Friday night. He jumped into second after his final jump but had to settle for third in the end as Noah Porter Maclennan of Canada leapfrogged him into second with a huge left double 1800 stalefish for his third and final jump.

Read more: Here is everything you need to know about this season.

Tess Ledeux shines in Big Air season opener

In the women's competition, Ledeux proved she was the one to beat, as the Olympic silver medallist and in the absence of Olympic champion, Ailing (Eileen) Gu.

The 20-year-old earned 93.00 for her first jump and backed that up with her third jump which was do-or-die for a podium finish.

A smiling Ledeux told FIS after her victory, "The pressure was so high. I'm just so happy to land my last trick. The feeling is just amazing with all these people at the bottom too."

The French star delivered under the pressure on the final women's run of the evening with a right double 1080 safety which earned her an 83.00 score and a winning total of 181.00.

Swiss star Mathilde Gremaud showed why she is the Beijing 2022 slopestyle champion and big air bronze medallist coming in hot with a left double 1260 safety trick to start her night off. She backed that up with an 83.00 score for her third and final jump, but it was not enough to hold off Sandra Eie.

The Norwegian just pipped the Swiss to take second on the podium by scoring a total of 170.75 to Gremaud's 170.00.

The competition continues Saturday 22nd with the men's and women's snowboard big air competition.

Be sure to check out Olympic.com for the full results of Saturday's competition.

You can watch the snowboard action here.

Big Air: Freestyle ski World Cup 2022/23 calendar

The freeski season includes these top-tier FIS events:

• October 21-22, 2022
  Chur, Switzerland
  Men & Women, Ski

• November 25-26, 2022
  Falun, Sweden
  Men & Women, Ski

• December 3, 2022
  Beijing, China
  Men & Women, Ski

• December 16-17, 2022
  Copper Mountain, USA
  Men & Women, Ski

The 2023 FIS Snowboard World Championships will take place in Bakuriani, Georgia from 19 February to 5 March 2023.

For results, where to watch, and event updates, check out the official FIS website.