Freeski season finale slopestyle set to hit Silvaplana
Mar 24, 2023·Freeski Park & Pipe
The 2022/23 FIS Freeski World Cup has moved onto the final stage of the season, as we’re set to close out another campaign once again in Switzerland at the Silvaplana slopestyle World Cup at Corvatsch.
This season marks the 10th iteration of the Silvaplana slopestyle World Cup, with the picturesque Engadin resort first hosting competition back in 2012/13 and continuing on every year since then save for the pandemic-shortened 2019/20 season.
In that time, Silvaplana has come to be an athlete-favourite stop on the World Cup tour, where one of the best slopestyle courses in the world and the good vibes that come along with the the start of spring come together to create a competition that can always be depended on to be a standout.
And, with the St. Moritz/Engadin region set to host the FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships in 2025, the Silvaplana World Cup has come on to hold even greater significance, as the competition slope for this weekend will be the same as for those World Champs in two years’ time.
A big day of qualifications in Silvaplana is scheduled to start on Thursday, 23 March, at 8:55 CET, while finals are slated to go down on Saturday, with the women’s two-run final dropping in at 11:00 and the men’s finals at 13:00.
The final crystal globes of the season will be awarded on Saturday, and on both the women’s and the men’s sides of things it’s looking more than likely that Norway will be taking home a heavy haul of hardware come competition end.
KILLI LOOKS TO HOLD OFF GREMAUD FOR OVERALL GLOBE
For the women it’s Norway’s Johanne Killi leading the way, as the 25-year-old has already locked down the slopestyle globe and is also sitting 54 points ahead of Bakuriani 2023 slopestyle World Champion Mathilde Gremaud (SUI) on the Freeski overall standings. So far this season Killi has three victories and one runner-up finish in four slopestyle World Cup competitions, giving her 380 points and an unassailable lead on the slope standings.
If Killi is able to finish in fourth place or higher this weekend then there is nothing that Gremaud will be able to do to catch her on the overall standings as well, and the Norwegian could be walking away with the first two crystal globes of her career nearly a decade after she first dropped in on a World Cup event.
While neither Killi or Gremaud has ever won in Silvaplana, each has multiple podiums here, with Killi claiming a second and two third-places over the year, and Gremaud finishing on the podium in third two times.
However, when it comes to podiums, the undisputed queen of Corvatsch is France’s Tess Ledeux, who comes into the season’s Silvaplana competition with four straight top-3s at the resort - two wins and two runner-ups. While Ledeux has not been involved in the crystal globe battles this season, you can bet she’ll be in the fight for a podium here in Silvaplana.
Another top name to watch out for this weekend is Canada’s Megan Oldham, who is looking to cap off what has been a breakout season on another high note. The double X Games champion in big air and slopestyle and a two-time medallist from Bakuriani 2023 World Championships, Oldham is back on the scene of her first career World Cup victory this week seeking to put a stamp on 2022/23 campaign that has seen her stake a claim amongst the world’s elite.
Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland, Norway’s Sandra Eie and Kirsty Muir of Great Britain are a few of the other women on hand capable of hitting the Silvaplana podium on Saturday.
RUUD’S QUEST FOR PERFECT PODIUM SEASON COMES DOWN TO SILVAPLANA
In the men’s mix the good times keep rolling for the Norwegians, as Bakuriani 2023 slopestyle World Champion Birk Ruud has already locked up his second-straight FIS Freeski overall crystal globe title before we even drop in on action in Silvaplana.
Ruud has podiums in every single FIS event he’s entered this season, with five World Cup victories and one World Cup third place finish, as well as the slopestyle gold and big air bronze from the Bakuriani 2023 World Championships.
In fact, if you go back to the final event of the 2019/20 season, Ruud has podiums in 12 out of his last 13 World Cup starts, and with his unstoppable success this season he has overtaken Andri Ragettli (SUI) for the most World Cup wins in FIS Freeski history with now 13 to his name.
It’s truly historic stuff we’re witnessing from a phenomenal athlete, and Ruud now needs just one more result of sixth place or better to also lock down what would be the first slopestyle crystal globe of his career and his fourth globe in total. Looking at his recent results history, you would be hard-pressed to find anybody who would bet against that likelihood this weekend.
The only competitor with even a slight chance of catching Ruud is Ragettli, and while the all-time FIS Freeski crystal globe leader could very well be the best bet to beat Ruud here at a home-soil Swiss slopestyle season-ender, even Ragettli knows that his chances of capturing a sixth globe aren’t looking very good.
However, if Tess Ledeux is the queen of Corvatsch, then Ragettli is the king, as the 25-year-old has five Silvaplana podiums dating back to the 2014/15 season - two wins, two seconds and a third. If there’s anyone who’s proven he can get it done at the season finale, it’s Andri Ragettli.
Ragettli finished third behind Ruud and Mac Forehand (USA) last season here in Silvaplana and third last weekend in Tignes, so you can bet he’ll be fired up to finish the season back on top of the podium.
Speaking of Forehand, he’ll be amongst a strong U.S. team that will see 2021 Silvaplana winner Colby Stevenson and 2018 Silvaplana winner and reigning Olympic slopestyle gold medallist Alex Hall returning to FIS competition for the first time since the Mammoth Mountain (USA) World Cup back in early January. Any of those three could disrupt the Ruud and Ragettli show this weekend.
Last weekend’s Tignes runner-up Jesper Tjader of Sweden, Christian Nummedal and Sebastian Schjerve of Norway, Canada’s Evan McEachran, Thibault Magnin of Spain, and Switzerland’s own Fabian Boesch are just a few of the other names to watch out for at this weekend’s season-ender in Silvaplana.
WHERE TO WATCH
QUICK LINKS
Livestream (geo-restricted)
Silvaplana data page (start lists, live scoring, results)
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