After the 5th stop of the Freeride World Tour in Fieberbrunn on March 9 was postponed by a week due to poor snow and weather conditions, all riders were condemned to hold out. This meant that the best freeriders in the world had to bridge the gap for a few days.
German World Tour rider and Fieberbrunn "local" Tom Leitner shortened the waiting time for his fellow riders from the States by organizing a short trip to his home in Berchtesgarden. The freeride spots in the area, such as Obertauern, were also checked out with local Ferdl Winter.
The organizers also had to improvise and move part of the team from Fieberbrunn to neighbouring Hochfilzen, as there was no more accommodation available in the village Well, one man's sorrow is another man's joy...
On Saturday 16th March, the time had come.
In the steep northern flank of the Wildseeloder, Silas Chickering-Ayers from the USA won the skiers' competition and Nadine Wallner from Austria won the ladies' competition. Sammy Luebke also from the USA won the snowboarder category and Elodie Mouthon from France won the snowboarder category.
The best-of video from Fieberbrunn
While many fans watched the freeride ladies from the spectator area from the early morning, we took a short hike up the Henne, the neighboring mountain of the contest face, to enjoy the powder ourselves and to follow all the action from a different perspective. Some of the top-class runs looked even more spectacular than from the well-attended visitor area.
As always, the standard of the riders was very high and the contest was extremely exciting.
The results
Women's skiing
1. Nadine Wallner (AUT)
2. Matilda Rapaport (SWE)
3. Jacklyn Passo (USA)
Men's skiing
1. Silas Chickering-Ayers (USA)
2. Wille Lindberg (SWE)
3. Reine Barkered (SWE)
4. Stefan Häusl (AUT)
5. Kevin Guri (FRAU)
6. Fabio Studer (AUT)
7. Drew Tabke (USA)
8. Salencon Nicolas (ARG)
9. Hannemann Basti (GER)
10. Gauthier Laurent (CAN)
...
15. Lentzsch Fabian (AUT)
Snowboard men
1. Sammy Luebke (USA)
2. Jonathan Charlet (FRA)
3. Aurelien Routens (FRA)
4. Emilien Badoux (SUI)
5. Bell Ryland (USA)
Snowboard women
1. Elodie Mouthon (FRA)
2. Anouck Mouthon (FRA)
3. Casey Lucas (USA)
For the complete list of results, see here
Women's skiing: Nadine Wallner secures her first victory!
Like last year, the women started a little further to the left (from the bottom, from the spectator's perspective). Nadine Wallner (AUT) impressed with a fast and technically good run and took her first victory on the Freeride World Tour ahead of Matilda Rapaport (SWE).
Nadine was delighted with her victory: "It was a great day for me, I was able to ski my line exactly as planned and the conditions were perfect. Now I've really made some progress, I have to show what I can do in Verbier too!" "The victory here in Fieberbrunn is something special, as this is my first year in the Freeride World Tour".
Now the chances of victory in Verbier are good for her. Loraine Huber (AUT) also put in a solid run and secured 8th place
Men's skiing: Stefan Häusl narrowly misses out on a podium place
In the men's event, Silas Chickering-Ayers (USA) won after a good run with two high drops ahead of Wille Lindberg (SWE) and Reine Barkered (SWE), who chose a similar line. Silias Chickering-Ayers was beside himself with excitement about his victory. "This is amazing, I never expected to be first among these incredible athletes". "The snow was very changeable and windy in the upper section, but it was great at the bottom" Stefan Häusl just missed out on one of the podium places after a very fast run and a high drop, finishing in 4th place.
Sebastian Hannemann, who started first, presented a flowing line and a beautiful backflip in the lower section of the Wildseeloder and also secured a place in the top 10 with Fabio Studer. Drew Tabke (USA) still leads the overall standings ahead of Jérémie Heitz (SUI) and Julien Lopez (SUI).
Jérémie Heitz, who got off to a good start with a high drop, unfortunately crashed in the lower part of the Wildseeloder after a jump and broke his leg in the process. The PG editorial team wishes him a speedy recovery!
Women's snowboard
In the women's snowboard contest, Elodie Mouthon (FRA) won ahead of her sister Anouck Mouthon (FRA), who took 2nd place. Casey Lucas (USA) took 3rd place. Margot Rozies (FRA), the current Tour leader, only came seventh in Fieberbunn, but remains in 1st place overall
Snowboard men
Sammy Luebke (USA) secured 1st place with a fluid run and a few drops. The other podium places went to the two Frenchmen Jonathan Charlet (FRA) and Aurélien Routens (FRA). Flo Oreley was also able to secure a place in the top 10. Sammy Luebke (USA) now leads the overall standings ahead of Aurélien Routens (FRA) and Ralph Backstrom (USA).
Before the grand finale in Verbier
After the award ceremony, there was plenty of partying and a kicker session at the valley station of the Streuböden lift. Despite the postponement of the event, the organizers once again did a fantastic job and the contest was an all-round success. After the 5th stop in Fieberbrunn, the XTREME VERBIER 2013 will take place next weekend, where the grand finale of the Freeride World Tour will be held. The first possible final day is Saturday, March 23, 2013. We'll keep you up to date.
The FWT ranking ahead of the grand final in Verbier at the Beck des Rosses
Ski Men
1 Tabke, Drew USA 6500.00
2 Heitz, Jérémie SUI 6200.00
3 Lopez, Julien FRA 5820.00
4 Barkered, Reine SWE 5760.00
5 Studer, Fabio AUT 5340.00
6 Lindberg, Wille SWE 5285.00
7 Lyons, Charlie NZL 4900.00
8 Guri, Kevin FRA 4230.00
9 Gauthier, Laurent CAN 4180.00
10 Chickering-Ayers, Silas USA 4070.00
11 Eder, Markus ITA 4048.00
12 White-Allen, Oakley USA 3885.00
13 Hausl, Stefan AUT 3850.00
14 Ducroz, Aurelien FRA 3685.00
15 Post, Griffin USA 3445.00
Ski Woman
1 Wallner, Nadine AUT 6900.00
2 Gundersen, Pia Nic NOR 5980.00
3 Hargin, Christine SWE 5975.00
4 Paaso, Jacklyn USA 5770.00
5 Maxfield, Ashley A USA 5230.00
6 Wright, Crystal USA 4880.00
7 Slinning, Anne May NOR 4710.00
8 Huber, Lorraine AUT 4385.00
9 Segal, Natalie AUS 2955.00
10 McMillan, Jess USA 2260.00
SNOWBOARD MEN
1 Luebke, Sammy USA 6680.00
2 Routens, Aurelien FRA 6460.00
3 Backstrom, Ralph USA 6325.00
4 Badoux, Emilien SUI 5760.00
5 Charlet, Jonathan FRA 5675.00
6 Guillot-Diat, Ludovic FRA 5290.00
7 Rodosky, John USA 4620.00
8 Rouge, Joel SUI 4200.00
9 Bell, Ryland USA 4125.00
10 Carlson, Tim USA 4060.00
11 Orley, Flo AUT 3885.00
Snowboard Woman
1 Rozies, Margot FRA 6900.00
2 Mouthon, Elodie FRA 6680.00
3 Yates, Shannan USA 6105.00
4 Dewey, Laura USA 5925.00
5 Lucas, Casey USA 5580.00
6 Mouthon, Anouck FRA 5110.00
7 Lazzareschi, Iris USA 4205.00
8 Bock, Aline GER 3435.00
