Park & Pipe European Cup season gets underway in France
Jan 11, 2024·Snowboard Park & Pipe
With a little more time to wait before we get back to World Cup action at the Laax Open next week, we’re taking a look at the first FIS Park & Pipe European Cup action of the season, with snowboard big air and slopestyle competition hitting Font Romeu in the French Pyrenees last week, and freeski big air action going down in Les Arcs in the French Alps over the weekend.
Strong start to EC season for snowboard
With an incoming storm threatening to disrupt the weekend’s events in Font Romeu, organisers were able to shuffle the schedule around in time to see all phases of competition completed successfully, with slopestyle leading things off on Thursday, followed by big air on Friday. And while Font Romeu is looking a little low on the snow side of things thus far into the 2023/24 winter, a huge effort by the team there meant a solid venue was in place to greet the riders, who responded with an exceptional level of competition.
The slopestyle competition in Font Romeu was classified as a European Cup premium competition, and the start list was heavy with riders who regularly compete on the World Cup circuit.
For the women, we saw Dutch rider Romy van Vreden step up for her first career EC victory with a strong showing, followed up by her compatriot Katia Dutu in second place, and Great Britain’s Masie Hill rounding out the podium in third in a comeback performance after missing almost a full year of action due to injury.
For the men it was Matty Cox (formerly representing Australia, now repping GBR colours) also making a triumphant return to competition - this time after an almost 1.5 year layoff - by taking the first EC win of his career. Cox was followed by last season’s European Cup SS/BA overall winner Romand Allemand in second, and Japan’s Ruki Tobita in third place.
For Friday’s Font Romeu big air comp Czechia’s Laura Zaveska on top of the women’s competition, and Allemand taking a step up on the podium by claiming the win for the men.
Both van Vreden and Hill claimed their second Font Romeu podiums in as many days with second and third place finishes for the women, respectively, while the men’s Font Romeu big air podium was rounded out by Kaito Hamada (JPN) and Leo Framerin (ITA).
Next stop on the FIS Snowboard Park & Pipe European Cup tour will be in Leysin, where halfpipe and slopestyle competition are slated to go down from 27-28 January. Also to watch out for is the 2023/24 North American Cup kick off, coming up from 16-18 January in Sun Peaks (CAN).
Andraska and Bostadloekken open EC season with victories
The 2023/24 FIS Freeski European Cup season began with big air action in Les Arcs where again we saw strong international fields featuring some of the best up-and-coming talent in the world.
In the women’s competition it was Switzerland’s Anouk Andaska earning the first EC victory of her career with a standout performance, followed by reigning Norwegian big air national champion Ingrid Gullhagen in second, and Andraska’s Swiss teammate Michelle Rageth (SUI) in third place.
For the men William Bostadloekken scoring the highest-level podium of his career with a big victory, with Switzerland racking up a four-podium day on account of Adrien Vaudaux and Fadri Rhyner wrapping things up in second and third, respectively.
The FIS Freeski European Cup season will stay on in France for the next event, with slopestyle and big air action taking to Alpe d’Huez from 16-19 January. North American Cup action for Freeski will begin from 23-24 January in Copper Mountain (USA).
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