Richard Amacker (SUI) wins the third stop of the Freeride World Tour in Courmayeur for the skiers. The US American Ralph Backström dominates the snowboard competition.
Once again, the participants and spectators at Mont Fortin saw a thrilling competition. Richard Amacker, who lives not far from Courmayeur in the Swiss canton of Valais, was the last athlete to take to the slopes and impressed with his unusual line choice and fast, fluid skiing style. Amacker on his run: "I had a really good day. The snow was good, I had some nice jumps and landed them all very cleanly". Second place went to New Zealander Sam Smoothy, another good result that puts him firmly at the top of the rankings. Third place went to Samuel Anthamatten, who underlined the good Swiss result with his usual technical and clean line.
Ralph Backström dominates the snowboarders
American Ralph Backström once again dominated the snowboarders with a clean and smooth line. He landed three consecutive cliffs cleanly and exuded a rarely seen ease. Innsbruck's Max Zipser secured second place with a spectacular line, which he channeled down the slope in a clean, fast, fluid and controlled manner. Max on his run: "What a great day with great snow. I hit my line exactly as I had planned and was able to incorporate a few jumps." Douds Charlet (FRA) came third in the snowboarder category.
The complete results
Ski
1 AMACKER RICHARD SUI
2 SMOOTHY SAM NZL
3 ANTHAMATTEN SAMUEL SUI
4 DUCROZ AURELIEN FRA
4 HAUSL STEFAN AUT
6 HEREGGER BJÖRN AUT
7 LOPEZ JULIEN FRA
8 LEITNER THOMAS GER
9 REICHENBERGER CHRISTIAN GER
10 BARKERED REINE SWE
11 GURI KEVIN FRA
12 HANNEMANN SEBASTIAN GER
Overall standings
1 SAM SMOOTHY
2 OAKLEY WHITE-ALLEN
3 DREW TABKE
SNOWBOARD
1 BACKSTROM RALPH USA
2 ZIPSER MAX AUT
3 CHARLET JONATHAN FRA
4 STENTIFORD JAMES GBR
5 ROUTENS AURELIEN FRA
6 BADOUX EMILIEN SUI
7 ORLEY FLO AUT
8 SCHNABEL CHRISTIAN AUT
9 GUILLOT-DIAT LUDOVIC FRA
10 ANNETTS MATT USA
11 TOELDERER MITCH AUT
Overall standings
1 RALPH BACKSTROM
2 DOUDS CHARLET
3 MAX ZIPSER
The male athletes now have just under a month 'free' until they are allowed to ski steep rock faces again and fight for the podium places. The next FWT tour stop will take place in Roldal, Norway, from February 25 to March 2, 2012.
The Freeride World Tour 2012 tour stops at a glance
1st Swatch Freeride & Freeskiing World Tour, Revelstoke 2012, date: January 04-11. Location: Revelstoke (CAN)
2nd Swatch Freeride World Tour, Chamonix Mont-Blanc 2012, date: January 21-27. Location: Chamonix (FRA)
3rd Swatch Freeride World Tour, Courmayeur-Mont-Blanc 2012, Date: January 24-29; Location: Courmayeur (ITA)
4th Swatch Freeride World Tour, Røldal 2012, Date: February 25 - March 2. Location: Røldal (NOR)
5th Swatch Freeride World Tour, Fieberbrunn 2012, Date: March 10-15. Venue: Fieberbrunn (AUT)
6th Swatch Freeride World Tour, Verbier 2012, date: March 24-April 1. Location: Verbier (SUI)
All information about the Freeride World Tour can be found here...