Industry News
The Freeski Finals event at the Big Air Festival in Chur, Switzerland, scheduled for today, Friday, October 20, 2023, had to be canceled due to inclement weather. The victors were instead based on the points from the qualifier from Thursday, October 19, 2023. The qualifiers were initially supposed to take place today but due to the weather forecast had been moved forward by one day. The strong rain falls and heavy winds forecast made it impossible to prepare the venue for a safe and fair competition on Friday.
In the women’s Freeski qualifiers Mathilde Gremaud from Switzerland won first with 95.50 points ahead of last year’s defending champion Tess Ledeux from France with 94.00 points. Third place went to Gremaud’s team mate Sarah Höfflin with 91.75 points.
In the men’s Freeski qualifiers Dylan Deschamps from Canada had qualified in first place with a total of 93.66 points. Second place went to Daniel Bacher from Austria with 92.66 points while third place went to last year’s defending champion Birk Ruud from Norway with 92.00 points. US Freeskier Troy Podmilsak narrowly missed out on the podium with 91.66 points. The 19-year-old American had placed in third last year. He was the only Freeski competitor from Team USA this weekend, however there will be four American snowboarders competing tomorrow, provided the event will go ahead.
