Freeski World Cup season closes out this weekend in Silvaplana
Mar 21, 2024·Freeski Park & Pipe
We’re rolling into the final weekend of the 2023/24 World Cup season, which for FIS Freeski means, of course, that we’re on the scene in Silvaplana once again for slopestyle action at one of the world’s finest slopestyle venues in Corvatsch 3303.
Qualifications in Silvaplana will be dropping in on Friday, with men’s heat one leading things off at 8:55, heat two at 11:40, and the women wrapping Q’s up at 14:25. Finals, meanwhile, are slated for Sunday, where the top 10 women and 16 men will have one final shot at a 2023/24 FIS Freeski World Cup podium beginning at 11:00.
This will be the 11th time FIS Freeski has visited the slopes of Corvatsch for the Silvaplana World Cup, and for the majority of those instances the venue has served as the final stop of the season. With a course regarded by most of the competitors to be amongst the best in the world and end-of-season vibes in the air, Silvaplana has become an athlete-favourite stop on the tour.
GREMAUD GETS SEASON VICTORY LAP WITH SLOPESTYLE AND OVERALL GLOBES LOCKED UP
The final competition of the World Cup season means crystal globe time, and on the women’s side of things it’s Switzerland’s own Mathilde Gremaud looking to close out what has been one of the greatest individual seasons in FIS Freeski World Cup history with one more podium performance, before she’s handed both the slopestyle and the Freeski overall crystal globes at competition’s end here in Silvaplana.
Gremaud has already set single-season FIS Freeski World Cup records for most wins (6) and most podiums (8), and has not missed the top-3 once so far in 2023/24. Already the big air crystal globe winner last weekend in Tignes, Gremaud’s leads atop both the slopestyle World Cup and the Freeski overall World Cup rankings are unassailable, and once the dust has settled here in Silvaplana she will end up as the first female freeskier to claim three crystal globes in a single season.
While Gremaud doesn’t even need to drop in on this weekend’s competition to walk away a triple globe winner, in case the 24-year-old is looking for a little incentive to bring her A-game to proceedings, should she take the win here in Silvaplana she will tie Birk Ruud (NOR) and Eileen Gu (CHN) for the most victories in FIS Freeski World Cup history with 14.
Though the globes are all wrapped up for Gremaud on the women’s side, there’s still the chance we’ll see some movement on the second and third steps on the season’s slopestyle podium, where Tess Ledeux (FRA) currently sits in second on the rankings with 216 points, followed by Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) with 165 points and Jay Riccomini (USA) close behind Hoefflin with 161 points.
Moving a little bit further down the list, there’s still a chance to improve position on the final standings for the likes of Ruby Star Andrews (NZL), Rell Harwood (USA), Olivia Asselin (CAN) and Anna Karava (FIN), all of whom are here in Silvaplana and capable of challenging for the podium.
The women’s Freeski overall top-3, meanwhile, is already set in stone, with Eileen Gu (CHN) guaranteed to finish second behind Gremaud, and Ledeux locked into third place.
FOREHAND LOOKS TO HOLD OFF HALL FOR SLOPESTYLE TITL
Over on the men’s slopestyle side things aren’t much more open than on the women’s. With that being said, the slopestyle globe winner is yet to be decided for the men, and there’s a heavyweight battle between two of the USA’s finest at the top.
Currently it’s 22-year old Mac Forehand leading the way with 310 points after claiming his second career slopestyle World Cup victory last week in Tignes. With second place finishes in Stubai (AUT) and Laax (SUI), as well as a big air win on home soil at Copper Mountain (USA), Forehand is having the best season of his career, and could be hard to catch this weekend in Silvaplana.
However, the man trying to reel him in just so happens to be the reigning Olympic slopestyle gold medallist, 2023/24 big air crystal globe winner and, quite simply, one of the most talented freeskiers of all time - Alex Hall.
Make no mistake - Hall’s got a tall task in front of him. With 260 points Hall sits fully 50 back of Forehand, and he would need at least a podium result here in Silvaplana plus an uncharacteristically poor performance from Forehand in order to leapfrog his teammate and steal the globe.
With an immensely talented field on hand here in Silvaplana and one of the most dynamic courses we’ve seen all season to throw down on, really anything could happen through this weekend’s competition, but luck would have to factor into a Hall globe win in a big way.
The fight for third on the men’s slopestyle rankings is a tight one, with Andri Ragettli (SUI) and Birk Ruud separated by just one point - 195 for Ragettli and 194 for last season’s slopestyle and overall crystal globe winner Ruud.
In his 10 previous seasons of World Cup action Ragettli has only missed the slopestyle overall top-3 twice, and you know the most consistent man in freeski will be highly motivated to hold off his Norwegian rival here in Silvaplana at a home-soil competition. The battle between these two might just be the hottest subplot of the weekend.
When it comes to the men’s Freeski overall rankings the top-3 are set, and it’ll be the USA sweeping the final podium, with Alex Ferreira locked in for the overall win after a perfect five-for-five win season in halfpipe, Hall currently holding on to second place, and Forehand not far back in third.
Hall’s 460 points has him just 16 ahead of Forehand’s 446 points, but no matter what happens here in Silvaplana both can be assured of remaining in the top-3, as Ruud sits 114 points back of Forehand.
Of course, there are a whole lot of rippers here ready to let loose on the Corvatsch course who have no part of the globe conversation, but remain podium threats nonetheless.
With Max Moffatt and Evan McEachran of Canada, Tormod Frostad and Sebastian Schjerve of Norway, Ben Barclay and Luca Harrington of New Zealand, Konnor Ralph (USA), Fabian Boesch (SUI) and a handful of others here and hungry to finish strong, it should be one to remember as we cap off another epic FIS Freeski World Cup season at one of the finest slopestyle venues in the world.
Stay tuned to our social media channels for where-to-watch and livestream info closer to finals time.
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