After a major scheduling shuffle, the Freeride World Tour’s 2024 season lastly bought underway this morning in Verbier, Switzerland. The venue for the occasion was the Petit Bec as a substitute of the initially deliberate Bec des Rosses.
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Sometimes, Verbier is reserved for the FWT’s finals, however because of the lack of snow within the Pyrenees—the place the primary two occasions of the FWT had been deliberate this season—the occasion organizers opted to run a make-up competitors within the Alps.
And what a contest that make-up was.
The ladies’s area kicked issues off with progressive strikes. Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Addison Rafford went for a backflip and a 360, respectively, however sadly, they could not fairly maintain it collectively. The star of the present was Poland’s Zuzanna Witych, who laced a technical, high-speed run. She walked away with a hard-earned first place.
“I’ve no phrases; I’m so shocked. I cherished this line from the primary time I noticed the face, however I did not count on it to be that huge,” Witych stated. “I by no means imagined the situation of main the rankings, and I actually need to preserve pushing myself.”
Manon Loschi, an ever-promising rookie with a deep bag of methods, stored her run conservative, choosing textbook snowboarding as a substitute of bombast. Her calculated efforts landed her within the second place. Lastly, the American Molly Armanino stomped a powerful double stager for third.
As for the boys’s area—what a powder keg. The recognition of freeride snowboarding has surged up to now ten years, with an inflow of expertise saturating the massive mountain area. This morning, like a stress valve releasing, all that expertise exploded throughout the Petit Bec. The Tour has by no means been this enjoyable to look at. Significantly.
Max Hitzig took the title, showing to drift down the Petit Bec, at the same time as he absorbed monumental drops. Following intently behind was Kiwi Finn Bilous—an Olympic park skier turned free-rider—who proved {that a} freestyle background may translate seamlessly to the massive mountain. FWT legend Kristofer Turdell rounded out the rostrum in a powerful bid to maintain tempo with the frothing younger weapons.
“It was a extremely particular and technical run. Usually, I like flatter terrain, however I loved the steep slopes right here; it makes you focus. I wished to start out with a stable run this 12 months, and my plan is to have enjoyable this season and take a look at my greatest. I look ahead, particularly to the brand new cease in Georgia,” Hitzig stated of his run this morning.
The continued evolution of freeride got here at a price, although. A number of favorites, like Max Palm and Marcus Goguen, crashed throughout their runs as they tried to push the bar ever increased. Fortunately, nobody seemed to be significantly damage.
The standing of the next Tour cease at Ordino Arcalís, Andorra, stays tenuous because of the aforementioned troublesome situations within the Pyrenees. Earlier this week, the Tour reported that they are “intently monitoring the climate forecast within the Pyrenees” within the hopes of working the Ordino Arcalís Professional early subsequent month. Keep tuned.
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