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ContestHappening 1 2021 | Will it be this year?

Difficult situation for riders and organizers

by Tobias Huber 01/14/2021
The currently unclear situation and the question of how the pandemic will develop in the coming weeks and months also poses major challenges for the organization of freeride contests. Will there be a shortened tour for the elite? Will qualifier events be held and how will they be scored? Answers to these and other questions still need to be found.

In view of the global health crisis, the question can of course be asked whether international travel and bringing together young people from different corners of the world should be encouraged at the moment, when avoiding unnecessary contact is the order of the day. Find out here what the current planning status is and when it will become clear what the 2021 season might look like.

Unclear situation

In autumn, the FWT organization optimistically announced a normal contest calendar as if there would be no pandemic. At the same time, the contest format was changed slightly: This time, the cut was to be made after the third tour stop in Andorra, after which the winners were to be decided in Fieberbrunn with two runs and in Verbier at the final with 1.5 times weighted points for these two competitions.

Not surprisingly, it became clear over the course of last fall that the events in Japan and Canada would be canceled in 2021. Talks were announced with European resorts regarding replacement venues, but no information has yet been released.

Since the pandemic situation is only now gradually becoming more predictable for politicians after the Christmas vacations, the FWT organizers had no choice but to wait with further decisions until there is a little more planning security. After all, we have to come to terms with the political decisions of at least several Alpine countries regarding restrictions. For this reason, a Zoom press conference (for press representatives) has been announced for 20.01.2021, at which the planned path for the 2021 season will be outlined as clearly as possible.

For example, it is still not clear for the New Zealand participants Hank Bilous, Craig Murray and Jess Hotter whether they will be able to take part this year, or whether the effort and risk for New Zealanders will pay off. They would currently face a 3-week quarantine on their return to New Zealand, and they have not been able to find an agreement with their personal insurers that would cover a Covid infection while traveling abroad. New Zealand currently has virtually no Covid cases and is keen to keep it that way.

Of course, the FWT is all about marketing and (live) images, which should be seen by as many interested viewers in the target groups as possible. The ranking and a fair, comprehensible competition are also part of the show alongside spectacular images. It will be exciting to see whether a fair way can be found to ensure that there is no distortion of competition among the elite due to travel restrictions and that regional qualifier events such as the upcoming Open Faces FWQ event in Kappl, Tyrol, at the end of January can have a certain significance. In addition, it should perhaps also be considered not to create incentives to disregard rules, as creative solutions are already being discussed in the internal social media groups of FWQ riders.

The 4* FWQ in Montafon (Vorarlberg), which was planned for 26.02.2021, has been canceled. The much earlier event in Kappl (Tyrol) is still on the calendar. Ultimately, we can only wait and hope that after the press conference on 20.01.2021 there will be some planning certainty for the organization and riders and that sensible solutions can be found. It is safe to assume that both qualifiers and FWT events will not be accessible to the planned extent and probably not equally for all potential participants. You will probably find out more here in ContestHappening next week.

The qualifiers

SKI Men

The top 13 of the FWT 2020 as ranked:

Isaac FREELAND (USA)

Kristofer TURDELL (SWE)

Andrew POLLARD (USA)

Blake MARSHALL (NZ)

Reine BARKERED (SWE)

Carl REGNÉR (SWE)

Drew TABKE (USA)

Carl RENVALL (SUI)

Tom PEIFFER (CAN)

Tanner HALL (USA)

Kevin NICHOLS (USA)

The qualifiers from the FWQs:

Maël OLLIVIER (FRA)

David DELIV (SWE)

Julian HAMPTON (NZ)

Ross TESTER (USA)

Cooper BATHGATE (CAN)

Raymond MCDERMOTT (USA)

The wildcards:

Léo SLEMETT (FRA)

Sam LEE (NZ)

Yann RAUSIS (SUI)

Tao KREIBICH (AUT)

Yu SASAKI (JPN)

Konstantin OTTNER (GER)

Aymar NAVARRO (ESP)

SKI Women

The top 4 FWT of 2020 as in the ranking:

Arianna TRICOMI (ITA)

Hedvig WESSEL (NOR)

Elisabeth GERRITZEN (SUI)

Jacqueline POLLARD (USA)

The qualifiers from the FWQs:

Zuzanna WITYCH (POL)

Tracy CHUBB (USA)

The wildcards:

Maude BESSE (SUI)

Juliette WILLMANN (FRA)

SNOWBOARD Men

The top 6 of the FWT 2020 as ranked:

Nils MINDNICH (USA)

Victor DE LE RUE (FRA)

Sammy LUEBKE (USA)

Cody BRAMWELL (UK)

Jonathan PENFIELD (USA)

Gigi RÜF (AUT)

The qualifiers from the FWQs:

Hugo SERRA (FRA)

Michael MAWN (USA)

The wildcard:

Blake MOLLER (USA)

SNOWBOARD Women

The top 4 from the 2020 FWT as ranked:

Marion HAERTY (FRA)

Michaela DAVIS-MEEHAN (AUS)

Erika VIKANDER (USA)

Núria CASTÁN BARÓN (ESP)

The qualifiers from the FWQs:

Katie ANDERSON (USA)

Claire MCGREGOR (NZ)

The wildcard:

Manuela MANDL (AUT)

Photo gallery

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

Show original (German)

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