FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2022: GREAT START OF PHASE FOR SPANISH RIDERS IN BAQUEIRA-BERET

If you have been attentive to the articles that we have been publishing in recent months, you will know that we have already talked about the Freeride World Tour (FWT) on other occasions. I mean, how not to do it? We are crazy about powder! We have especially emphasized the debut of the Baqueira-Beret resort as the location for the first phase of this World Tour since, until this year, it had never hosted an event of such international dimensions as this one. Baqueira-Beret is one of Uller's favorite resorts and, thanks to becoming the spotlight in this exciting start to the competition, the whole world has been able to admire the great quality of the snow, the incredible relief of its mountains and the great team behind it and that has made this first phase go flawless. It is not only one of the favorite destinations for freeriders, but also for après ski lovers, thanks to establishments such as the Moët Winter Lounge and many others.

That is why today we review the results of the first stop of the Freeride World Tour (FWT) 2022, not only because it was in our country, but also because of the great success of the qualifications obtained by the Spanish participants. And it is that in the end this competition is that: skiing, snow, incredible jumps and descents and of course powder… lots of powder!

SCORING CRITERIA IN THE FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2022

Whether you are familiar with this type of championship or not, let's remember what are the criteria that the FWT jury measures and that it uses to score each of the competitors. In total there are 5 criteria and they always appear at the bottom of the screen (in the case of choosing to watch it on television) in bar format. The line is taken into account, paying attention to the route of its descent; the speed, because even if there are no timers, it can earn you points; the technique, which is the rider's way of descending; the control, taking into account that the loss of a ski scores 0 points; and the “air&style”, which mentions the jumps, their amplitude, their originality and their height.

SPANISH PARTICIPANTS IN FWT 2022

For every athlete, playing at home is usually a source of pride. It is the place where your fans surround you and where the landscape is more familiar to you than ever. In the case of white sports, the probability of "feeling at home" in the descents is higher and, somehow, the local athletes will execute their exercises with a certain mental advantage. But if the Freeride World Tour is characterized by something, it is the demands of its stages and its "tour" through the most emblematic mountains in the world. So, luckily or unfortunately, riders have to prove themselves in different parts of the globe. And in this year 2022, the Tour began in Baqueira-Beret.

For the Freeride World Tour 2022, Spain attended the championship on January 22 with 4 Spanish athletes who would fight to get the best qualifications. On the one hand, 3 young riders who, despite their young age, have a wealth behind them and a really good record: snowboarder Núria Castán, skier Abel Moga and the snowboarder Pau Riba. On the other hand, we had the great Aymar Navarro in the ski modality, who was competing at home in what would be his fourth year participating in the FWT.

Each one in their respective modality and together with the rest of the participants, would be in charge of inaugurating the Baqueira-Beret resort as the location of the championship for the first time in the history of the World Tour.

NÚRIA CASTÁN: SECOND POSITION IN SNOWBOARD WOMEN

One of the aspects that the jury highlighted the most about his performance in this first phase of the Freeride World Tour 2022 in Baqueira was his precision when choosing the route of his descent, which in the mouths of the sports commentators translated into a: “he knows exactly what he is doing”. The trace of her board in the snow was evidence of it, and the Catalan, originally from Reus, was seen to enjoy it even with all the concentration that the competition requires. Many spectators who had been lucky enough to see Núria Castán previously in other competitions said that it was the safest time they had seen this young promise descend, and the public cheered her score when the jury announced her 67.00 points. Close to the American Erika Vikander (26 years old), who reached 74.00 points, Núria managed to reach the podium with a fantastic second position in the Snowboard Women category.

ABEL MOGA: SECOND POSITION IN SKI MEN

The young promise, a local from Valle de Arán, had the entire public excited when it was time for her to descend in the Ski Men modality. Competing at 21 years of age, the rookie had already made several podiums years ago, such as third place in the Freeride Junior World Championship 2018 and the Freeride Junior Fieberbrunn 2018.

Abel began his journey by controlling the trajectory and power, in what was apparently aiming for a line of high difficulty. Accustomed to the speed and agility with which he moves, just a few seconds later he was already making his first jump, which was followed by another one, to later be crowned with a third jump, one of the highest that has been seen in this phase. . And the already excited public surprised us again with one more final jump, managing to easily beat the mark of Australian Craig Murray, who had scored 90.00, with a score of 93.33 points. Thanks to that, Abel was in second position.

PAU RIBA: VITALITY IN A PURE STATE

After surprising the world with his incredible second position in the Freeride Junior World Championship 2021, Pau Riba arrived in Baqueira to participate in the Freeride World Tour 2022 thanks to a Wild Card that the snowboarder received with great enthusiasm. The public admired attentively the route chosen by the rider, full of aerials and grabs, who bet big from the beginning. It was in the second jump where he was unable to stay on his feet, but he immediately managed to get up and emerge victorious. Although this fact has affected him in terms of control and air&style, what he liked most about this young cataan was the vitality and strength with which he made his debut in this championship. Finally, he could not overcome what would be his main rival Victor de Le Rue, who had scored 65.00 points, but got a pretty remarkable score of 46.67 being ninth in the results table.

AYMAR NAVARRO: FALL TO RISE STRONGER

There are many things to highlight about the performance of the Aranese in this first phase of the Freeride World tour 2022. Since his departure, the entire public cheered his name, wanting to see what show the skier who played at home would put on. After all, it was his fourth FWT and one of the most veteran freeriders: it was clear that he was going to bet big to reach the podium again, as he always does. For this reason, he began to draw a route very different from that of the other skiers, choosing an extreme line in which he knew he would risk a lot. In fact, it begins its descent by going up (however contradictory it may seem) a few meters until it reaches the exact point of the mountain. In this way, having a practically zero margin of error, he manages to slide down the hill on an extreme inclination, making a jump from which he could not get out supported on his skis. The Spaniard, despite his brutal fall, managed to get up, thus demonstrating to an euphoric public that risk is part of his identity. Max Palm, with a score of 96.67, was his main rival at this stage. Despite not reaching him, Navarro has shown the entire world that he is willing to risk everything. We can't wait to see how he surprises us in the next phases!

EPIC MOMENTS AT BAQUEIRA-BERET FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2022

We know that, no matter how much we tell you, it is always more special to see it live and direct. So we leave you here the replay of this first phase of the Freeride World Tour 2022 in Baqueira Beret so that you can enjoy the descents of all the competitors.If you want to go directly to see the performance of our Spanish boys, take note: you will find Núria Castán at minute 00:46:52 of the video, Pau Riba descends at 01:10 :05, to see Abel Moga advance to 2:51:30, and finally Aymar Navarro at 3:25:00.

We draw two conclusions. The first, that the young promises have stopped promising; now they are complying. The second, that risking is not always winning, but it certainly is learning. It has been a day full of emotion. What a good start for the Spanish!

RESULTS OF THE BAQUEIRA FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2022

MEN'S SKIING:

1. Max Palm
2. Abel Moga
3. Craig Murray
4. Carl Regner Eirksson
5. Maxime Chabloz
6. Wadeck Goral
7. Kristofer Turdell
8. Andrew Pollard
9. Jack Nichols
10. Blacke Marshall
11. Valentin Rainer
12. Isaac Freeland
13. Maël Ollivier
14. Leo Slemett
15. Cooper Bathgate
16. Ross Tester
17. Queen Barkered
18. James Hampton
19. Kevin Nichols
20. Grifen Moller
21. Aymar Navarro

WOMEN'S SKIING:

1. Olivia McNeill
2. Hedvig Wessel
3. Zuzanna Witych
4. Juliette Willmann
5. Tracy Chubb
6. Sybille Blanjean
7. Lily Bradley
8. Lexi Dupont
9. Elisabeth Gerritzen
10. Jessica Hotter
11. Jacqueline Pollard

MALE SNOWBOARDING:

1. Michael Mawn
2. Camille Armand
3. Cody Bramwell
4. Ludovic Guillot-Diat
5. Victor De Le Rue
6. Mathieu Martineau
7. Manuel Diaz
8. Blake Moller
9. Pau Riba Arjona

FEMALE SNOWBOARDING:

1. Erika Vikander
2. Núria Castan Baron
3. Tiphanie Perrotin
4. Manuela Mandl
5. Katie Anderson
6. Claire McGregor

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

• HOW MANY STAGES DOES THE FREERIDE WORLD TOUR 2022 HAVE?

There are 5 phases of the Freeride World Tour 2022. Let's count.

1. Starts in Baqueira Beret (22-28 January).
2. Moves to Ordino Arcalís, in Andorra (January 20 – February 5)
3. And it will arrive at Kicking Horse Golden BC, Canada (February 12 - 17).

After this first phase, the best riders will reach the FWT Finals, and we will know who the world champions will be after the competitions in:

4. Fieberbrunn-Saalbach, Austria (March 15-20)
5. And Verbier, Switzerland (March 26 - April 3).

We will be very attentive!

• WHAT ARE THE COMPETITIONS OF EACH PHASE HELD?

Sometimes, even those of us who enjoy practicing white sports and not just watching competitions on television forget that we depend a lot on the weather. The Freeride World Tour has several phases and each one is celebrated in a different point of the globe, as we have seen. However, the curious thing is that in each location a period of time is established for the competition. Does this mean that a phase is divided into several days? No, all the modalities are carried out on the same day, and the FWT organization chooses it based on the weather conditions looking for the best possible snow condition. Hence, for example, the competitors of the FWT 2022 phase held in Baqueira between January 22 and 28 were summoned; At the moment that it was verified that the conditions of the 22nd would be exquisite, it was when the competition itself took place.

• WHAT HAVE BEEN THE SPANISH RESULTS IN BAQUEIRA FWT 2022?

The Spanish results in Baqueira within the Freeride World Tour 2022 are: Núria Castán (23 years old), second place in the Snowboard Women category; Abel Moga (21 years old), second place in the Ski Men category; Aymar Navarro (32 years old), twenty-first place in the Ski Men category; and Pau Riba (18 years old), ninth place in the Snow Men category.