Font Romeu slopestyle World Cup set to close out 2017
Aug 31, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe
Font Romeu (FRA) - After a month off, the 2017/18 FIS Freeski slopestyle World Cup gets back at it this weekend in Font Romeu (FRA), with three days of competition kicking off on Thursday with men’s qualifiers, followed by ladies qualifications on Friday. Finals will be going down at the Eastern Pyrenees resort on Saturday, 23 December, making the Font Romeu slopestyle the ultimate World Cup competition of 2017 on the FIS Freestyle World Cup circuit.
The Font Romeu competition will be the third slopestyle World Cup of the season after an excellent August opening to the campaign at New Zealand’s Cordrona resort, which was followed up in late November with a hugely successful contest in Austria at first-time World Cup organizer Stubai.
With two competitions in the bag so far this season it’s a pair of Scandinavians sitting on top of the rankings, with Jennie-Lee Burmansson (SWE) and Oystein Braaten (NOR) holding down top spot of the respective ladies’ and men’s slopestyle World Cup rankings.
Just 15 years old and in her first season on the World Cup circuit, Burmansson comes into competition at Font Romeu with two podiums in two events, having taken a third place in her debut at Cardona before stepping it all the way up to the top of the podium with a win in Stubai.
Burmansson’s incredible start to her World Cup career could get even better this weekend, as the entries list for Font Romeu promises the young Swede should face down a field largely similar to the one she bested in Stubai.
However, that field is by no means a weak one, and as the clock ticks down towards the start of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea, skiers up and down the rankings will be ramping it up in the search for crucial qualification points.
With 2016/17 slopestyle crystal globe winner Sarah Hoefflin (SUI), 2015/2016 crystal globe winner Tirij Sjaastad Christiansen (NOR), who is back in the game after missing out on the last year's World Cup tour duo to the knee injury, 2014/15 crystal globe winner Emma Dahlstrom (SWE), last year’s Font Romeu winner Tess Ledeux (FRA), and so many other strong ladies’ in the field, there’s really no telling which way this one could go.
Tough Swiss delegation on hand to face down Braaten
And the same can be said on the men’s side of the competition, where just 45 points separates first place Braaten (105 points) from 10th place overall Colby Stevensen’s (USA) (60 points). While several of the names currently occupying space near the top of the men’s slopestyle leaderboard will not be dropping in at Font Romeu, there are a lengthy list of competitors who are slated for competition who can make all sorts of noise come finals time.
The heaviest contingent on hand will be the Swiss team, featuring Kreischberg 2015 slopestyle world champion Fabien Boesch and current big air World Cup leader Elias Ambuehl, any of whom have the chops to win on the right day.
Also on hand will be two-time world championships medallist Russell Henshaw (AUS), big air specialist Christian Nummedal (NOR), and several others (or even more) who should be in the mix come Saturday. The start list is just chock-full of big names as well as some talented up-and-comers that could make their way through into the finals so also in the men's competition it's basically anyone's game to win this weekend in France.
The first heats of Thursday’s men’s qualifications are slated to begin at 10:10 CET, while the ladies’ qualifications on Friday are expected to begin at 10:40. Finals on Saturday are scheduled to begin at 12:30.
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