Font Romeu ready for final slopestyle tune-up before Beijing 2022
Jan 14, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
The final FIS Freeski World Cup tune-up before we head off to the big show at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games in just a few short weeks is set to go down in France this weekend, as we return to Font Romeu for World Cup slopestyle action from January 14-16, 2022.
This will be the fifth time in the past six years we’ve visited the sunny Pyrenees resort (missing last season only because of the Covid-19 restrictions), and while Font Romeu isn’t as big or internationally-renowned as some of the other resorts on the FIS Freeski calendar, with a fun slopestyle course set-up, an exciting field of skiers on hand and the dependably-perfect Font Romeu weather forecast to continue through all three days of competition, all the pieces are in place for an entertaining competition to come.
Men’s qualifications at Font Romeu are set to take place on Friday, January 14th beginning with heat one at 10:45 CET and heat two at 13:30. Women’s qualifications will take place on Saturday (time TBA), followed by women’s and men’s finals on Sunday beginning at 10:30.
LEDEUX LOOKING FOR FOURTH IN FONT ROMEU
Headlining the women’s field this weekend will be France’s own Tess Ledeux, the three-time Font Romeu winner who comes into her home-country competition once again flexing her muscle on the women’s freeski scene this season.
So far in 2021/22 Ledeux two big air podiums - a win at the Big Air Chur (SUI) and a second place finish in Steamboat (USA) - as well as the slopestyle victory from the Dew Tour at Copper Mountain (USA). While she had an uncharacteristic 27th-place finish at her lone slopestyle World Cup start in Stubai, you can expect last season’s double-crystal globe winner to be back on top of her game and in the hunt for her fourth Font Romeu win this weekend.
Ledeux’s biggest challenges are likely to come from the USA, Great Britain, Austria and Russia.
The U.S. will see both Caroline Claire and Marin Hamill on the scene this weekend, with both skiers fresh off strong performances on home soil in Mammoth last weekend in which they made finals but fell short of the podium.
Katie Summerhayes will be representing GBR this weekend, and the veteran will be looking for a return to the form that saw her finish off last season with a fourth-place finish in Silvaplana. Though it’s been over four years since her last World Cup podium, Summerhayes has shown she’s still very much in the top-3 hunt on the right day.
The there’s Austria’s Lara Wolf, who’s seen World Cup finals action a dozen times but is still searching for her first podium on the tour. With something of a reduced women’s field on hand in Font Romeu this weekend, this could very well be her time.
And finally there’s Russsia’s Anastasia Tatalina, the reigning big air World Champion.
Tatalina followed up her big air World Championships gold medal at Aspen last season with her first-ever World Cup podium the following weekend when she took third place in the Aspen slopestyle, and she may very well be the only one who can truly challenge Ledeux’s Font Romeu reign this weekend.
RAGETTLI SET TO RETURN
For the men, the biggest story in Font Romeu is the return to competition of Andri Ragettli - the reigning slopestyle World Champion and the winningest skier in FIS Freeski World Cup history.
Ragettli followed his Aspen 2021 slopestyle high with a serious low, as just days later he overshot the landing in competition at the World Championships big air competition and seriously injured his knee.
Ragettli had been widely considered a Beijing 2022 favourite before his crash, and has been rehabbing hard to get back into shape ahead of the Games. However, after 10 months away from competition it’s anyone’s guess as to what form he’ll be in with just three weeks to go before the Opening Ceremony in China.
There will be a strong men’s field on hand in Font Romeu for Ragettli to stack himself up against, including 2020 Font Romeu winner Mark Hendrickson (CAN) and his Canadian teammates Teal Harle, and Edouard Therriault, all three of whom made it to finals at the Mammoth Mountain slopestyle World Cup last weekend and are battling down to the wire for the final spots on the Canadian Olympic Team.
Similarly, the U.S. squad is looking to fill out the final spots on their slopestyle and big air team, which means the likes of Cody Laplante, William Born, Hunter Henderson and Ryan Stevenson should all have plenty of motivation over the next few days of action.
There’s also a handful of veterans on hand on Font Romeu who are essentially assured of their spots for Beijing but are perhaps looking to bump up their world ranking and perhaps grab a piece of the podium - and some momentum along with it, like James Woods of Great Britain and Sweden’s Henrik Harlaut.
Woods and Harlaut two of the most influential skiers to drop in on a slopestyle course, and each legends in their own right. It’s more than possible that Beijing 2022 will be the final Games for each of them, and you can count on the fact that neither giant of freeskiing wants to end their Olympic legacy quietly.
Antoine Adelisse (FRA), Fabian Boesch (SUI), Javier Lliso (ESP and Isak Davidsson (SWE) are a few of the other names capable of making some noise this weekend in For Romeu.
WHERE TO WATCH
Livestream and where to watch info will be updated on the web story once that information is finalized on the day before finals. Check back here or follow or social media channels for the latest information.
QUICK LINKS
Font Romeu World Cup data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
Photos (coming soon)
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