ContestHappening 3 2021 | It actually took place!

While the first competition without fresh snow needed a little sunshine and therefore firn to allow for decent skiing, the little fresh snow with a light cover at the second stop also had its pitfalls. This time, the judges placed a lot of emphasis on skiing technique and rewarded clean runs. The constellation of two competitions on the same face with the same participants also provided additional excitement. Everyone knew the face the second time around and it was easy to assess what the judges might like. It was expressly emphasized that the judging from the first competition would have no influence on the second competition. However, it is certainly difficult to lower expectations based on the results of the first contest or to be surprised by something new.

The "Port del Rat" face is normally ridden in the Juniors competitions. Of course, you can complain that the faces on the World Tour are always so short, some would say boring. Or simply recognize that the snow conditions have to be suitable for the entire field of skiers. The Bec-des Rosses at the other end of the spectrum is also only appreciated as a contest face by very few riders, to put it positively. In the end, there was a steep start that separated the wheat from the chaff when it came to skiing or snowboarding technique. The rest had to be skied smoothly, with a handful of clean features and ideally a few tricks thrown in.

Snowboarders

The snowboard competition is becoming more and more worth seeing every year, even without invited "legends" and film riders. A new generation of freeride snowboarders is growing up who have both: A wide range of tricks and the ability to cope in natural terrain, even in difficult conditions. Nils Mindnich has mastered this, but unfortunately the winner of last year's season was unable to produce a clean run. Cody Bramwell with his backflip in the first competition and Blake Moller with his bs 3 in the technical terrain and especially the fs 180 on half cab in the small drop series were definitely highlights. The difference between snowboarders and skiers in terms of spectacular lines is getting smaller and smaller.

Overall ranking snowboarders:

1. Blake Moller (USA) - 18 000 pts

2. Cody Bramwell (GBR) - 12 095 pts

3. Victor De Le Rue (FRA) - 11 520 pts

Women snowboarders

In the women's snowboarding category, Marion Haerty does what she does best: Bringing down fluid runs and virtually outclassing the rest of the riders. Zoi Sadowski-Synnott, winner of the Natural Selection Tour in Jackson Hole, would definitely be an interesting wildcard for the FWT. A re-run of the Natural Selection Tour final between Marion and Zoi on actual natural features would be very interesting! Manuela Mandl is coming back from injury after two years. After a safe comeback run at the first event, she unfortunately crashed at the second stop in steep, rocky terrain and can, hopefully unharmed, attack again at the next stop.

Overall ranking snowboarders:

1. Marion Haerty (FRA) - 20 000 pts

2. Katie Anderson (CAN) - 14 400 (tied) pts

2. Erika Vikander (USA) - 14 400 (tied) pts

Women skiers

Some of the women skiers are pursuing an "all or nothing" tactic this year: Hedvig Wessel bet everything on her backflip in the first stop and, as she was able to ride it out just before the stone field, deserved to win. At the second stop, she crashed right at the start after making a mistake. After a faulty binding at the first stop, Elisabeth Gerritzen was able to win the second stop: A triple in the steeper, technical terrain helped her to victory. One of the highlights of the FWT livestream was definitely how she realistically and not unsympathetically commented on her own winning run afterwards:

Juliette Willmann landed in second place twice. Although she missed out on the bigger features, she impressed with very fluid, technically good skiing without hesitation. Maude Besse skied rather cautiously at the first stop after her injury, but then surprised everyone with a superman front flip attempt at the second stop. Tracy Chubb and Olivia McNeill are two other technically strong skiers at the start this year who could be on the podium at any time, but in Andorra they did not produce any flawless runs.

Overall ranking skiers:

1st Juliette Willmann (FRA) - 16,000 pts

2nd Elisabeth Gerritzen (SUI) - 12,620 (tied) pts

2nd Hedvig Wessel (NOR) - 12,620 (tied) pts

Skiers

Both rookies and experienced skiers were able to impress in the men's competition. Rookie Ross Tester won the first competition with a cork 3 and backflip in an otherwise flowing line, Maël Ollivier impressed with his 3 into the small "couloir" and came second. The second stop, on the other hand, was more in the hands of the experienced riders. Andrew Pollard took the well-deserved victory with his very fluid line with wide jumps and no superfluous turns. Turdell and Barkered rounded off the podium with their solid runs including backflips. Maël Ollivier enjoyed another good placing with a creative line and Tao Kreibich also put down a run with tricks that was enough for 5th place.

Overall ranking skiers:

1st Maël Ollivier (FRA) - 16 600 pts

2nd Andrew Pollard (USA) - 14 760 pts

3rd Reine Barkered (SWE) - 13 040 pts

The next event is scheduled for March 6 in Fieberbrunn. Whether this will take place is apparently not yet certain. A lack of snow in the Tyrolean lowlands, the high temperatures of recent weeks and, last but not least, the isolation of Tyrol make this a difficult undertaking. Ideally, however, we can look forward to a total of three runs from each participant.