Following the takeover of the Freeride World Tour by the FIS, the Olympics was the next obvious step for Hale-Woods and Johan Elias, President of the FIS. With a view to the centralized marketing of all FIS competitions, which has long been a goal, Elias once again said that "great things can be achieved together". Hale-Woods also emphasized that "skiing must be united". This is the only way to drive forward the professionalization of freeride sport and ensure that athletes can make a living from their sport and receive appropriate prize money. The athletes are to be supported by special image campaigns.
New competition format: questions remain unanswered
How exactly the Olympic freeride competitions will be organized remained unclear at first. According to Hale-Woods, the aim is to build on the wealth of experience of the FWT and the safety of the riders will continue to have top priority in the future. A round table discussion with IOC representatives, rider representatives and Nicolas Hale-Woods is planned in order to do justice to the Olympic idea and the "free" in freeride in a highly professional competition format. In this context, Hale-Woods posed the question of what freedom actually means and whether the term is still up to date. He also said that the demands on the contest venues should be reconsidered if necessary and adapted to the conditions at the respective Olympic venues. Reacting flexibly to nature and the conditions is the core of freeriding. The Olympic status is therefore an opportunity for freeriding to return to its roots, emphasized Hale-Woods.
