Slopestyle season set to kick off at Stubai

Nov 21, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe

Andri Ragettli (SUI) in action at Stubai

The FIS Freeski World Cup is set to get back to business this week with a highly anticipated slopestyle competition slated to go down on Friday at the world-famous Stubai resort in Tyrol, Austria.

Dubbed the “Stubai Zoo,” the terrain park in Stubai is one of the biggest, most progressive, and most highly-regarded in the world, and, as it’s situated on a glacier, it boasts a dependably long season that sees dozens of the world’s best freeskiers descending on the park for early- and late-season training every year.

After a successful debut on the World Cup tour in 2017/18, FIS Freeski is once again taking advantage of that dependable snowpack this season, dropping in on the Stubai Zoo for the first slopestyle World Cup competition of the year.

And what a season it’s shaping up to be. After this week’s action at Stubai the 2018/2019 FIS Freeski slopestyle World Cup tour is slated to hit five more stops, including Font Romeu (FRA), Seiser Alm (ITA), Mammoth Mountain (USA), Quebec City (CAN) and the grand finale in Silvaplana (SUI). And, if that wasn’t enough, this season’s slopestyle action will also include the Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, which will take to the slopes of Park City Mountain Resort in the first week of February.

The Stubai setup, built by world-leaders in course construction Schneestern, boasts a line of two kickers followed by three rail sections with plenty of room for creative and unorthodox lines. And with more than 100 athletes from 23 different nations all checking in on top of the Stubai glacier, it’s certain that the season’s opening competition will provide plenty of top-tier action.

Despite the absence of the last year’s winner Jennie-Lee Burmannson (SWE), who is currently sidelined while recovering from an injury, the youth movement is well represented at Stubai.

16-year-old phenom Kelly Sildaru (EST) will be coming into Stubai fresh off a hot start to the season at the FIS Junior Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Cardrona (NZL), while the reigning world champion Tess Ledeux (FRA) and Canadian young-gun Elena Gaskell and her Cardrona World Cup-winning switch 1260 should also be in the mix.

Then there is the Olympic gold and silver Swiss duo of Sarah Hoefflin and Mathilde Gremaud, who also finished with a 1-2 punch for the Swiss Freeski Team two weeks ago in Modena and certainly can’t be forgotten while taking about the favourites for victory here.

Going further down the starting list watch out for Maggie Voisin and Caroline Clair of USA, as well as the Olympic bronze medallist Isabel Atkin (GBR).

Also throw in a couple of the World Cup veterans into the mix with the likes of Kim Lammare (CAN), Johanne Killi (NOR), Silvia Bertagna (ITA) and Coline Ballet-Baz (FRA), all capable of hitting the podium against top competition.

Things continue to look interesting over on the men’s side, with more than 70 top-class freeskiers looking for chances to grab the victory the end of the week.

The host nation Austrian squad will be putting their hopes on the shoulders of Sam Baugartner and Lukas Muellauer, though they’ll be in tough battle against teams like the Canadians with the likes of Alex Bellemare, Teal Harle and Even McEachran repping the Maple Leaf.

Scandinavians are always among top favourites while talking about slopestyle and things ain’t much different here in Stubai, with Modena’s big air winner Birk Ruud droping in for Norway along his teammates Christian Nummedal and Ferdinand Dahl, while Henrik Harlaut and Oscar Wester will represent Sweden, and Joona Kangas and Aleks Patja will compete for Finland.

And then there’s the Swiss Freeski team, who have brought their finest athletes to Austria with two-time overall slopestyle World Cup champion Andri Ragettli leading the way.

Least, but not last let’s mention the US Freeski Team with the Sochi 2014 Olympic champion Joss Christiansen in squad, as well as the fan favourites Alex Hall and Quinn Wolferman, just to name few.

Initially scheduled for Saturday, the programme in Stubai has been rescheduled, as officials took into account a big snowstorm forecast to roll into Stubai on the weekend.

Following the jury decision after the first team captain’s meeting on Tuesday, the ladies' and men’s qualifications are now scheduled for Thursday, with the finals slated to take place on Friday.

Also worth mentioning is the new ‘section-by-section’ judging system that is being implemented for the first time at the FIS Freeski World Cup level. As mentioned by Stubai’s judge and freeski legend Steele Spence, the new system follows the ongoing process of harmonisation within the FIS and takes on the couple of years of experience from the snowboard tour.

The new system allows judges to focus more on details, with part of the panel judging solely the specific sections of the course, and the other part taking into account the overall impression. With such a high diversity and difficulty of freeski tricks we witness in today’s competitions, the new system helps not only for judging to be more accurate but also has the advantage to present the sport through understandable graphics to the broader audience.

COMPETITION PROGRAMME

Thursday

9:15 CET - Men's Qualifiers heat 1 & 2

12:15 CET - Men's Qualifiers heat 3 + Ladies' Qualifiers

Friday

11:45 CET - FINALS

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