The FWQ series also started this season in La Clusaz (France). The 2* events, which took place during the week, gave riders with few or even no ranking points the chance to qualify for the main event at the weekend. The 4* contest attracted many European freeriders, who competed for the good prize money and the many FWT points. Fabian Lentsch and Jochen Mesle were on site for PowderGuide and report on their impressions.
The starting position
Due to the massive increase in fresh snow of 50cm shortly before the competition, the originally planned two-day format (qualifiers on Saturday and finals on Sunday) was reduced to one day. It was already announced at the first riders' meeting that the current avalanche situation and the bad weather forecast for Sunday meant that the contest could not take place on the planned final face. The area of the 2* event offered itself as an alternative. This gave some riders a slight advantage by participating on Wednesday.
The contest
As it was the first contest of the season, everyone was pretty excited beforehand - it's a first test of strength after several months of preparation. This will show who can take off with a head start or who still has some catching up to do.
As in recent years, many French riders are in good form this year. Mickael Bijasson - a local from La Clusaz - dominated with a fluid, controlled run despite his high start number. Above all, he impressed the judges with his two perfect 360s. Mickael Bimboes was rewarded with second place thanks to his remarkably fast riding style and several cliff drops. Austria's Raphael Webhofer was one of the first starters to take advantage of the perfect, untracked powder. With a clean run and a 360 to finish, he showed that he deserved his place on the podium. With 2410 points, he now leads the current ranking list. Less than 0.1 points behind, Felix Wiemers (Germany) narrowly missed out on a place in the top three.
In the women's competition, Lorraine Huber impressed with a clean and fluid style. She therefore deserved to be at the top of the podium. Sweden's Matilda Rapaport took second place. As the second
Austrian, Angelika Kaufmann confidently earned third place.
There was a mixed podium in the snowboarding category: Johannes Schnitzer from Germany finished at the top ahead of Sweden's Christoffer Granbom and France's Christophe Charlet.
Also, three women from different nations shared the podium in the snowboard category: Amber Schuecker from Switzerland ahead of Estelle Balet (Switzerland) and Anna Orlova from Russia.
A complete list of results can be found here.
Conclusion
Despite the few opportunities offered by the face, which was not actually suitable for 4*, it was an exciting competition with a few surprises. The supporting program including a riders' dinner, FWT live broadcast and successful afterparty rounded off the weekend in the beautiful mountain village of La Clusaz. If you haven't seen the film "Few Words" by Candide Thovex yet, you should definitely do so - or admire the brilliant spots directly on site in La Clusaz
