Newcomers dominating at Freeride World TourThe Swatch Freeride World Tour hits Røldal in Norway for the first time next week with the world’s best rider’s battling it out in the fourth round of the comp.
So far we’ve seen the cliff-hucking, rock-swerving, hooning efforts of the likes of Xavier de Rue and Aurelien Ducroz as they’ve hit the big-mountain comps at Revelstoke, Chamonix and Courmayeur.
But at the halfway stage, the only things that’s clear is that this season's tour is all about the newcomers. So far the skier’s comp has not been dominated by the hardened veterans or last years champs. Instead, the top-five is made up of an eclectic mix of season wildcards and newcomers.
New Zealand’s Sam Smoothy has cliff-jumped and carved his way into first place in the rankings, despite a shaky start to the tour in Revelstoke where he came 23rd. In Chamonix he upped his game, blasting his way into 1st place, backing it up with a strong 2nd in Courmayeur.
US newcomer Oakley White Allen has wowed in the first season, with strong rides in both Revelstoke and Chamonix giving him the silver position on the leaderboard. Swiss Richard Amacker and Argentinean Niki Salencon earned their places in last year’s Freeride World Qualifiers, and have more than proved their worth; Amacker won the Courmayeur stage on the 29January and Salencon’s consitancy has put him in 5th on the leaderboad.
In the snowboarding, the American’s are dominating. Another new face on the FWT, Ralph Backstrom, has taken two firsts and a second and, in the women’s, Maria DeBari took the lead in both Revelstoke and Chamonix.
After hitting Røldal on the 25 February, the tour moves to Austrian hotspot Fieberbrunn on the 10 March where two-time champ Aurelien Ducroz will no doubt try and show the unflappable newbies how its done. As Smoothy has written on his blog; there’s still a lot of riding to be done: “To be writing this as the number one ranked skier on the Freeride World Tour at the halfway point in the Tour still sends little shivers to places I should not reference in such an arena. But through my own battles in the muddy morass of the competitive freeride trenches I am all too aware of how quickly this could all implode like any overfilled silicon double D cup.”
The grande-finale of the tour will take place on Verbier’s legendary Bec des Rosses on the 24March – a fitting place for this epic season to some to an end.
Photo: © Swatch Freeride World Tour Courmayeur/Jeremy Bernard)
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Posted by Mary @ Fall-Line - Fri, 17/02/2012 - 12:57pm
The Swatch Freeride World Tour hits Røldal in Norway for the first time next week with the world’s best rider’s battling it out in the fourth round of the comp.
So far we’ve seen the cliff-hucking, rock-swerving, hooning efforts of the likes of Xavier de Rue and Aurelien Ducroz as they’ve hit the big-mountain comps at Revelstoke, Chamonix and Courmayeur.
But at the halfway stage, the only things that’s clear is that this season's tour is all about the newcomers. So far the skier’s comp has not been dominated by the hardened veterans or last years champs. Instead, the top-five is made up of an eclectic mix of season wildcards and newcomers.
New Zealand’s Sam Smoothy has cliff-jumped and carved his way into first place in the rankings, despite a shaky start to the tour in Revelstoke where he came 23rd. In Chamonix he upped his game, blasting his way into 1st place, backing it up with a strong 2nd in Courmayeur.
US newcomer Oakley White Allen has wowed in the first season, with strong rides in both Revelstoke and Chamonix giving him the silver position on the leaderboard. Swiss Richard Amacker and Argentinean Niki Salencon earned their places in last year’s Freeride World Qualifiers, and have more than proved their worth; Amacker won the Courmayeur stage on the 29January and Salencon’s consitancy has put him in 5th on the leaderboad.
In the snowboarding, the American’s are dominating. Another new face on the FWT, Ralph Backstrom, has taken two firsts and a second and, in the women’s, Maria DeBari took the lead in both Revelstoke and Chamonix.
After hitting Røldal on the 25 February, the tour moves to Austrian hotspot Fieberbrunn on the 10 March where two-time champ Aurelien Ducroz will no doubt try and show the unflappable newbies how its done. As Smoothy has written on his blog; there’s still a lot of riding to be done: “To be writing this as the number one ranked skier on the Freeride World Tour at the halfway point in the Tour still sends little shivers to places I should not reference in such an arena. But through my own battles in the muddy morass of the competitive freeride trenches I am all too aware of how quickly this could all implode like any overfilled silicon double D cup.”
The grande-finale of the tour will take place on Verbier’s legendary Bec des Rosses on the 24March – a fitting place for this epic season to some to an end.
Photo: © Swatch Freeride World Tour Courmayeur/Jeremy Bernard)
Related Stories
2012 Freeride programme announced
Swatch Freeride World Tour starts in Revelstoke
Henrik Windstedt out of Freeride world tour