The first stop of the Freeride World Tour 2016 took place today. This year, the world elite of freeriding met at the start of the tour on the northern flank of Pic D'Arcalis in Andorra. Rookies who had risen from the qualifiers and experienced World Tour veterans shared the first places.
On Wednesday evening, the tour management decided to bring forward the date of the event by one day to Friday. A remarkably good decision, as a cloud front with poor visibility and warm temperatures arrived directly after the competition. There was some precipitation in the region towards the beginning of the week, but the riders encountered very difficult and changeable conditions. Plenty of rock contact had to be expected at all times, which did not make route selection easy. The start was scheduled for 8.30 am to allow the contest to run until the early afternoon. As so often on a ski day, this meant getting up early. The route to the summit is comparatively easy and with the help of the lift, the first skiers were already at the summit after a 30-minute hike. We started with the snowboard men. Not easy at all for the first riders, as only the uppermost summit area was spoiled with sunshine and therefore tough conditions had to be expected. This was also noticeable for some riders, who lost control in some of the most technically demanding terrain.
The winning run by Sascha Hamm (GBR) was not only admired by us, but above all the following riders checked the lines through their binoculars to get as much information as possible from the competition slope.
On the subject of competition, Flo Orley (AUT) made an interesting comment: "It's less a competition against each other, much more a competition with yourself and your line. Everyone tries to get the maximum out of it". In his last year at the FWT, he not only showed his skills with beautiful line choice and safe riding, but also with an impressive outfit as the first monkey in the rock jungle (uhh-uhh, there was even a banana at the finish). Incidentally, Flo came 3rd in the Snowboard Men category in 2015 and 6th today. After the Men Snowboard category, the 7 girls showed what they have to offer. Estelle Balet (SUI) came out on top here.
14 racers started in the women's ski category. Jacki Paaso (USA) took first place with a big cliff drop. FWT veteran Eva Walkner came second with a soldien run. Third and fourth place went to the very strong rookies Evelina Nilsson and Arianna Tricomi. Nadine Wallner skied safely to 5th place and showed that she is back in full swing after her injury. The women's presence on the tour is noticeably lower, but it is striking how committed everyone is. Not only do the riders know and support each other, but the whole team seems to be well-rehearsed and in a great mood.
The men's ski category then impressively brought out the maximum. The face was fully utilized, some riders chose a safe line and showed their skills with tricks, others chose the most difficult line over the rocks and showed spectacular jumps and tricks.
Julien Lopez (FRA) stood out in particular, not only because of his unsightly headline in 2015 where he got caught in an avalanche in Kappel (AUT), but also because he was the only competitor with a full face helmet. Lopez took 7th place.
German hope Felix Wimers (GER) showed his acrobatic background with a backflip; as a Bundesliga gymnast, the 26-year-old put in a great performance. "I crashed my skis through a rock" he explained dejectedly after the finish and presented a huge scratch on the edge. "It was probably more of a run for the industry, but the main thing is that I got to the bottom in one piece", he winks. The contest was ultimately decided by the young Swede Kristoffer Turdell (SWE), who impressed with a huge cliff jump and a route that seemed impossible to the jury today. In the subsequent interview, third-placed Ivan Malakhov (RUS) revealed: "I haven't yet got the maximum out of it." Due to a mistake in an unauthorized route selection, he was moved from second to last place on the starting grid, so he had to decide on a different route at short notice. So there still seems to be room for improvement - perhaps an insider tip for the overall winner?
There were plenty of dramatic injuries and accidents, with local Dani Fornell Pratt (AND) suffering a torn cruciate ligament as an occupational hazard.
All in all, a premature and successful start to the 2016 season. We hope for more stops like this this season! Here you can find all the results and videos.
Women Snowboard
1. Estelle Balet (sui)
2. Marion Haerty (FRA)
3. Mikaela Hollsten (FIN)
Women Ski
1. Jackie Paaso (USA)
2. Eva Walkner (AUT)
3. Evelina Nilsson (SWE)
Men Snowboard
1st Sascha Hamm (GBR)
2nd Christoffer Granbom (SWE)
3rd Camille Armand (FRA)
Ski Men
1st Kristoffer Turdell (SWE)
2nd Jeremie Heitz (SUI)
3rd Ivan Malakhov (RUS)
