The first stop of the Freeride World Tour featured some massive airs, enormous tricks, and plenty of stellar runs. Taking place in Baqueira Beret, Spain, the competition grounds began with a fairly rocky opening face, followed by some pretty major cliffs and drops for the athletes to play with.
Erika Vikander, a 31-year-old from the United States, took first place for the women’s snowboarding with a very clean run, targeting multiple features to build up a solid amount of airtime for a 74.00 final score. Núria Castán Barón followed Vikander with a 67.00, and Tiphanie Perrotin took third with a 65.00.
Michael Mawn, a 22-year-old out of the United States, took first in men’s snowboarding, landing two 360’s, plenty of grabs, and a very clean spine ride to earn himself an 85.00 final score. Camille Armand took second place with a 76.33, and Cody Bramwell held onto third with a 67.67.
20-year-old Olivia McNeill, out of Canada, stomped two MASSIVE cliff drops to build a dope winning run, earning herself an 80.00 to lead the women skiing competition. She was followed by two time olympian Hedvig Wessel, who earned a 75.33, and Zuzanna Witych, who earned a 73.33.
The men’s skiing competition was arguably the highlight of the competition (I’m a bit biased here, as I’m a skier myself, but still, I think I’ll be able to prove my point). Swedish skier Max Palm took first place with an incredible run, stomping the first double backflip in Freeride World Tour history only to follow it up almost immediately with an enormous 360 to earn a 96.67. 21-year-old Abel Moga hauled through his run, beautifully landing an ENORMOUS cliff drop to finish with a 93.33, and 23-year-old Craig Murray kept up his history of trick after trick to take third with a 90.00.
Overall, the entire competition was absolutely wild. I’m always excited to see how each stop of the Freeride World Tour goes, and for the first competition of the year, this was certainly no disappointment. With so many people to keep a close eye on this season, there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be a wild one. A full, easily navigable replay of the event is available on the Freeride World Tour website, though the replay will also be posted below. The second stop of the Freeride World Tour will take place between January 30th and February 5th at Ordino-Arcalis, Andorra.
Image Credit: Freeride World Tour