On 18.10.2010, the organization of the FWT and FWQ published the official event calendar of the qualifying events. As with the announcement of the FWT stops, there are changes and innovations to be observed. A new category, the 4-star events, has been added to the existing 1 to 3-star events. This means that a total of 28 events will be on the calendar this season.
"Improvements" to the FWT
The confusion is not only great among the athletes. Initially, the women were to be removed from the FWT. However, after heated discussions, a separate World Tour was created for the women, half of which consists of 4-star events. With the announcement of the qualifier event calendar, it has now become clear that there will be 7 such 4-star events in the future - more than previously announced. The question now arises as to how these additional events will differ from the events declared as FWT events for the women? The FWT has confirmed to PowderGuide that the 4-star events, just like all other qualifiers, are open to all freeriders. However, the qualified riders are already seeded for the respective finals.
Reactions from the affected skiers
The passionate skier Anja Bolbjerg, for example, won a wild card for Sochi in Röldal (NOR). As this event will not take place for the women in the FWT round (Article FWT event calendar 2010/2011), the wild card was changed by the organizing committee to a qualification for the 4-star event in La Clusaz. Anja made the following statement to PowderGuide: "I am not sure I know what a 4-star event is....besides I think it is pretty unprofessional to change a qualification after it is obtained." Obviously, the upcoming change in the premier class of freeriders has not gone entirely smoothly and has led to many misunderstandings in the further development. The communication between the officials and the athletes seems to be somewhat disrupted at the moment.
Mikkaela Holsten spoke about this with PowderGuide: "Most of the competitions this season are still similar to normal qualifier events, or at least it feels like that, even if the 4-star events are called "Women Freeride World Ranking". There are just two competitions together with the men-FWT, if I understood it right. But it is better in this way than what they first were planning!"" Jess McMillan, runner-up in the Women's Skiing 2010, is already thinking about more concrete steps in her blog: "I am trying to see the good in the decision, but at the moment I think it really sucks. Time will tell. As far as me, I will be competing this winter. The Freeskiing World Tour is stoked to have women onboard and I will be competing in Revelstoke, Kirkwood, and Snowbird."
But there are also some voices, from some event organizers, who think the changes are a good thing. They hope for greater competition through a standardized ranking system and a greater focus on female freeriding.
Effects on the FWT
In addition, it can be observed that the expansion of the FWT for men's skiing to 6 stops and men's snowboarding to 5 stops has in turn been changed or called into question by the publication of the FWQ calendar. At least according to this, the North American Freeski Championship in Kirkwood (USA) has been downgraded to a 4-star qualifier. It remains to be seen how the FWT will react to this. If this remains the case, there will be no difference to last year's tour, at least for the snowboarders, as there would again 'only' be 4 stops.
Comment
In principle, the enlargement of both the main round (FWT) and the qualifying round (FWQ) is a logical consequence of the successes of recent years. However, the implementation seems to be (still) a little unclear in some places. The organizers of the FWT see their competition series as the world's best freeride event series. What is certain is that the FWT fulfills this claim to a large extent and therefore also (at least unofficially) crowns the "Freeride World Champion". However, the comments from the skiers involved show that it is largely unclear to the participants exactly how the new points system works and how they can become world champion.
Clearer communication from the FWT to the athletes would certainly be helpful. The constant changes are leading to an increasingly confusing mess, at least for the observer. Not only the new points system, but above all the unclear declaration of the individual events is causing discomfort. It remains to be seen how the athletes will react to the situation. Every modification usually brings advocates and critical voices alike onto the scene. The FWT could avoid some ambiguities with a more transparent and clearer line and thus save itself the displeasure of the athletes.
No matter how the FWT and the FWQ 2011 will turn out, we at PowderGuide.com will try to keep you up to date on all events as comprehensively as possible.
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