Oldham and Ragettli claim victories at first-ever freeski World Cup on Georgia soil
Mar 05, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
A big moment for Georgian freeskiing and an important step on the road to the 2023 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships went doWn on the slopes of Bakuriani on Saturday, where Megan Oldham of Canada claimed the second World Cup win of her career and Andri Ragettli lead a historic sweep of the men’s podium for the Swiss squad with his 10th World Cup victory.
Saturday’s competition was a test event for next season’s World Championships, and while gusty winds throughout the finals proved challenging for the skiers on hand, the exceptional organisation and enthusiasm on display by the Georgian Ski Federation and the crews in Bakuriani, along with some gutsy skiing by all the athletes on hand to compete in Georgia, meant that vibes were high throughout the week and right through finals on Saturday.
OLDHAM SECURES SECOND CAREER WORLD CUP WIN
After a heartbreaking Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games experience that saw her finish just once spot off the big air podium in fourth place, and then just one spot outside of finals in 13th place in slopestyle competition, Oldham was able to get little redemption with her performance on Saturday.
Charging hard despite the wind and putting down a solid first run that would earn her a score of 75.41, 20-year-old Oldham would land on top of the World Cup podium for the first time since the end of the 2018/19 season in Silvaplana.
“It’s been a bit of a crazy week and obviously we’ve struggled a bit with the weather,” Oldham said just after the results came in, “But overall I’m just really happy to be out here and enjoy the course, because it’s been a lot of fun and I’m really stoked to be out riding with everybody.”
Making the day a little bit more special for Oldham was the fact that her older brother Bruce was competing in the men’s competition, earning a fourth-place result in his first career World Cup start.
“It’s so cool to be here with my brother,” Oldham went on, “It’s the first World Cup we’ve ever skied together and I’m so stoked because he’s been riding so well, so for him to finally be here and have a shot at the World Cup is awesome.”
Second place on the day and the first of four podiums for the Swiss squad went to Sarah Hoefflin for the 13th World Cup podium of her career. Third place, meanwhile, went to a first-time World Cup podium winner, as Germany’s Alia Delia Eichinger nabbed the final spot in the top three, just ahead of her teammate and another World Cup first-timer in Mureil Mohr.
Despite not competing in Bakuriani, Kelly Sildaru (EST) remains atop the women’s slopestyle World Cup rankings with 200 points, while Hoefflin moves into second place with 160, and Oldham jumps into third with 136.
RAGETTLI CLAIMS 10th WORLD CUP WIN AND TAKES WORLD CUP LEAD
For the men, it seemed clear throughout training that the Bakuriani competition was Ragettli’s to lose, as the most successful athlete in FIS Freeski World Cup history put down clean run after clean run throughout every training session leading up to finals.
However, finals day saw perhaps the most challenging conditions of the entire week, forcing Ragettli into uncharacteristic falls on runs two and three.
Lucky for the 23-year-old, the three different 1260’s and clean execution throughout his rail sections on his first run would be more than enough to put him into double-digits on the all-time World Cup wins column, and his score of 73.75 was nearly 10 points ahead of second and third place finishers, the brothers Colin and Thierry Wili.
“It feels amazing,” Ragettli said of getting the job done, “It was a really fun week, actually. We had really nice practice days - warm temperatures and slushy landings. We had fun. It’s after the Olympics and a little bit of the pressure was gone and I think we’re all super, super happy we were able to compete here today after two days of not competing (due to the weather).
“And then yeah, to be here with the homies, Colin and Thierry, the brothers on the podium, is pretty cool. And I’m just happy to be healthy and everything. I knuckled pretty hard in the last run there, but yeah, all good.”
With his second win in as many competitions, Ragettli moves into top spot on the men’s slopestyle World Cup rankings with 200 points.
As mentioned, the brothers Wili grabbed second and third place, with Colin putting down a score of 64.11 and Thierry just behind his older sibling with a score of 64.06, with Colin also moving into second on the slopestyle World Cup rankings with 122 points.
The podium was the second of Colin’s World Cup career and the first for Thierry, making for the first time the pair had shared a spot in the top-3 at a major international competition. As well, it gave the Swiss men’s squad their first-ever sweep of a FIS Freeski World Cup podium, matching the feat that Mathilde Gremaud, Giulia Tanno and Hoefflin achieved when they went 1-2-3 at the Quebec big air World Cup in 2016/17.
Finally, a special shout-out to the performances of Nika Eloshvili and Luka Chopikashvili, who became the first two Georgian athletes ever to compete in the FIS Freestyle World Cup. Eloshvili finished in eighth place on the day and Chopikashvili ended up just behind his countryman in ninth, with both skiers stoking the Georgian crowd out to a fever pitch with every run.
With Bakuriani in the books it’s now on to Tignes (FRA), where we return for more slopestyle World Cup action from March 10-12, 2022.
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