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ContestHappening 08 2017/2018

Freeride Junior World Championships

by Tobias Huber • 03/24/2018
F. Gassner
Kappl, Tyrol
The Freeride Junior World Championships, the most prestigious junior competition, took place this week in Kappl, Tyrol. The 4* FWQ was also held in Nendaz at the same time. Find out who can now call themselves Junior Freeride World Champion and what the status of the qualifiers is here.

Freeride Junior World Championships 2018

The best young riders battled it out for the first time this year in Kappl (Tyrol) for the prestigious titles in the season finale of the FWT Juniors series. The 15 to 18-year-olds from 17 nations showed an impressive level. The contest face on the Quellspitze, which was well equipped with features and above all snow, provided a worthy setting for the junior finals. While the amount of snow allowed for all imaginable lines, it was the snow conditions that challenged some of the participants. The contest face was characterized by variable snow conditions, which only became a little easier to handle as the day progressed due to the sunshine. In addition, many runouts of cliffs and features were peppered with frozen, old avalanche deposits, which presented many of the young riders with additional challenges despite their excellent technique. The entire contest, including runs to click on, is available here as a replay.

M. Knoll
Kappl, Tyrol
M. Knoll
Kappl, Tyrol

Snowboard boys

In the men's snowboard event, there was no way around the strong Americans, who made up the largest delegation at the Junior World Championships in Kappl with 16 riders: Triple victory in the men's snowboarding, led by Jesse Aves, who was able to celebrate the biggest success of his career to date: "This is unbelievable. The lower section in particular was more challenging than I thought it would be, but I managed it well and I'm super happy." Holden Samuels also showed what he is capable of with one of the highest airs of the season, ultimately finishing in second place. Fellow countryman Andrew Kraatz completed the podium with a technical run and a steep and creative line.

Snowboard girls

In the women's snowboard category, Italy's Jazmine Erta impressed once again, even though she chose the winning line at literally the last minute: "I changed my line again three minutes before the start. I just wanted to have fun. As a result, I wasn't expecting another title and I'm over the moon." Anna Martinez from Chamonix impressed the judges with her confident line in the steep area of the face and took second place ahead of the defending champion from Canada, Heidi Farmer.

Ski girls

Switzerland's Marie Bovard is the new junior world champion in the women's ski event. She jumped to first place with a massive and technically demanding drop: "I'm so happy and can't believe I won. It's my first time at the Junior World Championships and it's amazing that I was able to win here straight away." Megan Rielly from the USA finished in second place thanks to a fluid run. Caroline Dreier (FRA) completed the podium in third place. Jill Frey was unlucky: the only German starter crashed in the upper part of the face and was therefore unable to live up to her expectations.

Ski guys

"The line of the day" in the men's ski category went to Dylan Lavenex from Switzerland. Style, creativity, a fluid run and a huge 360 to finish - the young Swiss skier showed everything it takes for a top run. Canadian Ben Woodward also managed a textbook run, with plenty of airtime, three technically demanding jumps and another 360. With three of the highest jumps of the day and a completely different line choice to the rest of the field, Spaniard Abel Moga not only won the hearts of the spectators, but also those of the judges and therefore third place.

Also worth mentioning is the run by Leif Mumma (USA), who mastered the face solidly with an impressively clean skiing technique and took by far the highest cliff of the day at the end, but fell victim to the aforementioned avalanche deposits after landing. Markus Krispler from Salzburg also had a mishap on his way to an absolute top placing. Krispler lost his bearings and was disqualified despite his actually good line: "That's extremely annoying. I went in a little too early at the top and got my bearings wrong. I then got into a gully that was already outside the permitted zone," said the Salzburg native, expressing his disappointment. Here are all the results from the FJWC 2018.

Visually, the face in Kappl definitely made quite an impression in these snowy conditions.

Optically, the face in Kappl definitely made quite an impression in these snowy conditions.

S. Voitl
Kappl, Tyrol

Nendaz 4* FWQ

The penultimate 4* qualifier for this season took place last week in Nendaz. At this legendary contest on Mont Gond, some have already secured their place in the FWT in recent years. This year, the men's skiing remains exciting - a good result in Obergurgl could also lead to a top 3 place in the FWQ ranking for Konstantin Ottner. There was a livestream of the contest, which can still be viewed. The winners in the respective categories were Caitlin Zeliff (USA, Ski Women), Cody Bramwell (SWE, Snowboard Men), Maria Kuzma (NZ, Snowboard Women) and FWT rider Mickael Bimboes (FRA, Ski Men).

This weekend, the 15th edition of the 3* FWQ X-Over Ride will take place on the Kitzsteinhorn, at the same time as the 3* FWQ in Chandolin (CH). The following week, the grand finale of the FWT awaits in Verbier (time slot from 31.3.-08.04.), before the European qualifier series reaches its finale with the 4* FWQ in Obergurgl on 07.04.

Photo gallery

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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