Top Notch at Fieberbrunn Junior Freeride Tour!
They did it again! While the Freeride World Tour competitors had to wait for a later contest date and a different venue, the junior face at Fieberbrunn, Austria was good to go last Saturday!
In blue bird skies the young riders once again delivered amazing skiing and snowboarding, this time from the southeast face of the Wildseeloder. Conditions were not that easy with the high winds and warm temperatures having affected the snow the day before, but that did not seem to hinder the juniors who rode the face with power, skill and style!
Swiss-Swede Carl Renvall was on top of his gametaking on the face like a true pro. Using all the features he could, he hit the biggest air of the day, linking the run with powerful turns and also taking a really long jump on his second cliff. Carl is a very stylish rider who skied his challenging line choice with zero hesitation. The judges where blown away and gave him the super score of 93.33 points!
And these judges know what they’re doing. As the FWT contest was postponed the juniors got to borrow the FWT judges, who in their turn got to witness some of the future stars of freeriding! Kiwi Dion Newport is one of the judges, who also runs a series of junior competitions down in New Zealand.
"The juniors rode that face so well regarding the snow coverage and conditions. We were really impressed by the men ski, some excellent skiers I believe we will see on the World Tour in a couple of years! The winner Carl Renvall was super fast, skied it clean with great style and technique. However, my standout of the competition was Maud Besse, who won the girls. She skied as good as the boys, charging her line with no hesitation and superb technique!"
Verbier/Bruson skier Maud Besse was already one of the favourites last year, and her strong style dominated on the face in Fieberbrunn. She was the only girl to take and stomp the big air at the top section and then finishing off with solid turns. Maud has some good skiers to be influenced by, as her ski buddies is a crew of hard charging riders like junior competitors Carl Renvall, and Luke Smith, former JFT skier Robin Deleze and Ludo Lovey, one of the top riders in the FWQs. Apart from her solid skiing, Maud is already throwing back- and frontflips. This is a girl to watch out for in the years to come!
The suspense is building for the final competition in Verbier, as Verbier local Carl Renvall and Aurélien Collet from Chamonix, France, now are tied for first place in the older boys’ ski category! After his win in Chamonix last weekend, Aurélien had an awesome run even in Fieberbrunn, including a big classic “cossack” in the mid-section of the face, giving him the second highest score of the day. Both riders now have a first and second place, and we will be sure to see some exciting action in Verbier.
The 14-15 year old boys were not far behind their older peers on skis on the Wildseeloder face and particularly winner Raphael Huber from Switzerland would have placed among the top five in the 16-17 year old category. Impressive!
French rider Paul Sautelli from St Gervais is on a winning streak. Once again he dominated the snowboarders with his consistent and strong riding, earning him two consecutive wins. Guess who will be the guy to beat in Verbier…
The snowboard girls all managed to reach the podium but the battle was on for first. Ayla Thidling from the UK managed to beat Marianne Stritmatter with one single point.
Hats off to the Spanish riders Dylan Shollema and Nuria Castan who are travelling all the way from Spain to follow the tour. Among the 82 competing riders not 70 are doing the full tour, creating a really nice atmosphere with new and old friends. We love the good vibes in the Junoir family!
An awesome weekend finished off with powder shredding with local guides on the Sunday, including a workshop on what to do if your friend is injured on the mountain. These workshops are creating responsible and knowledgeable freeriders, a great step towards a higher sensibility in the freeriding community.
With the two results from Chamonix and Fieberbrunn the selection will now be made for the top riders to go to the Junior World Championships in the USA. Stay tuned for more info!