ContestHappening 9 2016/17 | Chamonix event made up for in Andorra

The FWT Circus spent a little longer in Andorra this time, as two stops had to be made. Our colleague Jörg Angeli from Prime Skiing was on site and provides insights into the current conditions in Andorra with his documentary. He accompanied the German-speaking FWT riders (and also non-FWT riders) after the first tour stop:After the snowfall of the previous days, the conditions were not easy for the riders, as a light crust on the snow cover made the descent difficult and the warm temperatures softened the snow on the sun-exposed face quite a bit. Nevertheless, the riders produced some impressive runs on the Baser Negre (2700 m).

Snowboard men

The opening event on Wednesday belonged to the snowboarders. Victory went to Christoffer Granbom (SWE), who showed a fluid run with several high and safely landed jumps. Defending champion Sammy Luebke (USA) came in second ahead of Davey Baird (USA). FWT newcomer Thomas Feurstein from Schruns (AUT), who had impressed with second place at the season opener, shone with an original line choice, but unfortunately crashed after a high cliff drop and had to settle for eighth place. Defending champion Sammy Luebke remains in the lead in the overall standings, with Thomas Feurstein in fifth place.

Men's skis

The 23-year-old Léo Slemett (FRA) celebrated his first victory at the FWT. With a 360, a double air and a backflip, he relegated defending champion Loïc Collomb-Patton (FRA) to second place. Yann Rausis (SUI) came third.

Fabio Studer (AUT) came back after 25th place in the opening event with a spectacular Cork 360. However, the man from Koblach received deductions for his control and ended up in 9th place with 72.33 points. Benedikt Mayr (GER) from Munich performed a backflip and a 360 in his run, which earned him 66.33 points and twelfth place. Felix Wiemers from Biedenkopf (GER) landed a backflip and a high cliffdrop, but had problems with another jump and had to settle for 60.66 points and 16th place. Stefan Häusl (AUT) was unable to compete after his crash in the first FWT contest a week ago. The Strengen native's season is over following a cruciate ligament rupture - his first serious injury in ten years.

Leo Slémett leads the overall standings. Fabio Studer is 13th, Bene Mayr 16th and Felix Wiemers is 19th, meaning that most of the German-speaking riders already have more than one "strike result", as two out of three results count towards the overall standings. They will therefore struggle to stay in the Tour at the next stop in Fieberbrunn, where the number of riders will be reduced from 23 to 12. The Tour will continue there on March 6, 2017 with the third stop. After that, only the best two results from the first three events will be included in the rankings.

The live replay with tags for the individual participants can be found at www.freerideworldtour.com in the "Results" section and here for the current rankings. Highlights of the winning runs in the video.

FJT - Montafon

One week before the 3* FWQ in Montafon, the Juniors were back at the start. The contest was postponed to Sunday, February 19, to take advantage of fresh snow and the best weather. So far, only the results are known (see gallery)

An FWT-free weekend awaits us next weekend, while the qualifiers at the 3* in Montafon and the 2* at Goldeck in Carinthia will take place.