FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships about to kick off in Almaty

Mar 07, 2021·Freestyle

After a hugely successful ski cross World Championships competition went down three weeks ago in Idre Fjall (SWE), the updated schedule for the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships rolls on to Almaty (KAZ), where the biggest competitions of the season for moguls and aerials are set to take place from 8th to 11th of March, 2021.

Due to the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic earlier in the season and measures implemented by the Chinese health authorities and government, the originally scheduled FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships in Zhangjiakou (CHN) had to be cancelled back in December. However, the disappointment of that news has been essentially wiped away since the New Year, as organisers including Idre Fjall, Aspen (USA) and of course Almaty have stepped up as last-minute hosts for World Championships competition at their venues.

The Kazakhstan Ski Association has put in an enormous amount of effort to host this major event since the announcement at the end of January, and now just a little over a month later, here we are ready to kick off with the pinnacle event of the 2020/21 season.

Shymbulak, which will host both aerials and moguls competitions, is one of the most modern mountain resorts in Central Asia with a rich history of hosting sporting events. Also with the start section located at 2570 meters above the sea level, the venue at Shymbulak boasts the highest elevation on the entire FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup tour. The highest peaks of the surrounding resort, meanwhile, reach over 4500 meters above sea level, and with its modern infrastructure and enormous big mountain terrain surrounding the resort, Shymbulak holds all the pieces to soon became a top-level destination for ski enthusiast from all around the World.

Looking back at the successful events held at Shymbulak during the 2017 Winter Universiade, as well as two editions of moguls World Cup competitions in 2019 and 2020, it’s fair to expect that also the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships will deliver a remarkable showcase of world’s best aerials and moguls freestyle action.

Competition schedule (all local time):

March 8 - Moguls

9:30 - Women’s Qualifications

12:15 - Men’s Qualifications

15:00 - FINALS

March 9 - Dual Moguls

12:45 - Qualifications

15:00 - FINALS

March 10 - Aerials

9:40 - Women’s Qualifications

12:25 - Men’s Qualifications

15:00 - FINALS

March 11 - Aerials Mixed Team

15:00 - FINALS

2019 World Championships results:

Moguls

Top-3 Women: Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), Jakara Anthony (AUS), Perrine Laffont (FRA)

Top-3 Men: Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), Matt Graham (AUS), Daichi Tara (JPN)

Dual Moguls

Top-3 Women: Perrine Laffont (FRA), Jaelin Kauf (USA), Tess Johnson (USA)

Top-3 Men: Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), Bradley Wilson (USA), Daichi Hara (JPN)

Aerials

Top-3 Women: Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya (BLR), Liubov Nikitina (RSF), Xu Mengtao (CHN)

Top-3 Men: Maxim Burov (RSF), Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), Noe Roth (SUI)

Aerials Mixed Team

Top-3: Switzerland, China, Russia

2020/21 World Cup leaderboard

Moguls

Top-3 Women: Perrine Laffont (FRA), Anri Kawamura (JPN), Hannah Soar (USA)

Top-3 Men: Matt Graham (AUS), Benjamin Cavet (FRA), Ludvig Fjallstrom (SWE)

Aerials

Top-3 Women: Laura Peel (AUS), Winter Vinecki (USA), Megan Nick (USA)

Top-3 Men: Maxim Burov (RSF), Noe Roth (RSF), Pavel Krotov (RUS)

A post shared by FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup (@fisfreestyle)

WHO TO WATCH:

Moguls/Dual Moguls

Women

*** Perrine Laffont (FRA), Jealin Kauf (USA), Justine Dufuor-Lapointe (CAN)

** Anri Kawamura (JPN), Yulia Galysheva (USA), Hannah Soar (USA), Tess Johnson (USA)

* Jakara Anthony (AUS), Kai Owens (USA), Hinako Tomitaka (JPN)

Men

*** Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), Ikuma Horishima (JPN)

** Benjamin Cavet (FRA), Matt Graham (AUS), Ludvig Fjallstrom (SWE)

* Marco Tade (SUI), Bradley Wilson (USA), Brodie Summers (AUS), Dmitry Reikherd (KAZ)

Aerials

Women

*** Laura Peel (AUS), Danielle Scott (AUS)

** Ashley Caldwell (USA), Hanna Huskova (BLR), Alla Tsuper (BLR)

* Winter Vinecki (USA), Megan Nick (USA), Liubov Nikitina (RSF)

Men

*** Maxim Burov (RSF), Noe Roth (SUI)

** Pavel Krotov (RSF), Justin Schoenefeld (USA), Stanislav Nikitin (RSF)

* Lewis Irving (CAN), Oleksandr Abramenko (UKR), Pirmin Werner (SUI), Illia Burov (RSF)

WHERE TO WATCH

Aerials Mixed Team

Finals

Eurosport 2 + Eurosport player (Europe & Asia), Orf 1 (Austria), Belarus 5 (Belarus), CBC Sports Streaming (Canada), CZ Sport (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), YLE 2 (Finland), streaming on L'Equipe (France), Arena 4 (Hungary), Ziggo Sport 14 (Netherlands), Polsat Sport Extra (Poland), Match TV (Russia), Huste TV (Slovakia), RSI + Zwei + RTS 2, (Switzerland), TRT Sport 2 (Turkey), BBC Red Button + BBC iPlayer + BBC Sport web (UK & Ireland) , Olympic Channel (USA).

Live streaming will also be available on our Youtube channel HERE. Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming may not be available in your region. Full list of countries with the live streaming available can be found HERE.

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