Industry News
From Olympic medalists to big mountain icons and rising stars, Natural Selection Tour announces all 24 riders invited to drop into the 2023 Tour, including Crouch, Rukajarvi, Badertscher, Krawczak, Stock, Reid-McLean and Ciccarelli
The Natural Selection Tour rolls out a stacked group of 24 riders, from Olympians to icons and riders quickly making their names in the mountains, who will compete this season. Rounding out the 2023 invited riders are two-time Olympic gold medalist Enni Rukajarvi, Austrian park-to-powder vet Werni Stock, Canadian up-and-comers Darrah Reid-McLean and Mikey Ciccarelli, Norway’s Ulrik Badertscher, who landed the world’s first 1620 and “Big Mountain” Marissa Krawczak from Oregon. All 16 men and eight women competing will start off in Natural Selection DUELS, designed to bring out riders’ creativity and highlight new zones and snowboarding’s diverse styles.
The 2023 Natural Selection Tour season kicks off in January 2023 at rider-selected freeriding venues worldwide. DUELS will showcase varied terrain, as the riders pre-qualified from the 2022 season will go head-to-head with the invited riders from across the global snowboarding spectrum. The fully edited and judge-scored runs from each DUEL will be broadcast first and exclusively on Red Bull TV throughout February 2023.
DUELS pairs two riders in a unique venue of the qualified (rider who was invited back to the Tour based on their 2022 Tour finish) riders’ choosing where they will compete head-to-head in filmed and judged runs. On the line in each of the Natural Selection DUELS is the shot at moving on to the next two Tour stages: the YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke and Natural Selection Alaska. The DUELS rider match-ups have been pulled from the NST randomizer and are being announced daily on the Natural Selection Instagram. Torstein Horgmo vs. John Jackson, Kimmy Fasani vs. Darrah Reid-McLean, and Ben Ferguson vs. Nils Mindnich are the first three DUEL matches to be named.
Check out and share the newly released 2023 Natural Selection Tour invited rider videos:
- Brock Crouch (USA)
- Enni Rukajarvi (FIN)
- Ulrik Badertscher (NOR)
- Marissa Krawczak (USA)
- Werni Stock (AUS)
- Darrah Reid-McLean (CAN)
- Mikey Ciccarelli (CAN)
“I’m super thankful to be invited, as one of the younger kids starting to do backcountry, while still doing slopestyle contests. I watched the first Natural Selection when I was seven. And have been watching Travis’ amazing vision grow and knowing the rider list from Natural Seleciton is the best in the world. I’d do this over the Olympics or X Games any day.”
– Brock Crouch, pro snowboarder and 2023 Natural Selection Tour invitee
The invited riders, also including Hailey Langland, Nils Mindnich, Red Gerard, Kimmy Fasani, Gigi Rüf, and John Jackson, have been hand-picked by the Natural Selection Nomination Committee to compete alongside the returning riders who qualified through the second stages of the Tour in 2022 including Mikkel Bang, Dustin Craven, Jared Elston, Ben Ferguson, Marion Haerty, Elena Hight, Torstein Horgmo, Mark McMorris, Blake Paul, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Travis Rice.
The eight men and four women to come out on top of Natural Selection DUELS will converge for the YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke based out of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Live-streamed globally within the contest window, March 4 through 11, Mother Nature picks the day when riders will compete in brackets ending in a crowning of a winner in a dynamic venue within the Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing tenure. Known for its diverse, big mountain terrain, Revelstoke is a natural fit for the event with high quality, light snow, and consistent, reliable snowfall. The Tour will also highlight and celebrate the authentic spirit of the Revelstoke mountain community with events supported by Tourism Revelstoke and the Province of British Columbia.
All 12 riders who compete at the YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke will move on to Natural Selection Alaska in an all-new Natural Selection Tour super final venue outside Valdez. During the window from March 25 through April 1, riders go head-to-head on the iconic steeps and spines of Alaska’s Chugach Mountain Range. Look for riders from every aspect of snowboarding to put together film part-worthy runs in one take to make the final and claim the crown in Alaska.
A manifestation of snowboarders’ wildest dreams, the Tour’s innovative format reveals riders’ full creative expression and requires a deep knowledge of all-mountain conditions to reign supreme. The second and third Tour stops will run within seven-day weather windows to ensure that the snow is in prime condition.
2023 Natural Selection Tour Dates:
Natural Selection DUELS:
Throughout February 2023, exclusively on Red Bull TV
YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke*:
LIVE! March 4 – 11, 2023
Natural Selection Alaska*:
March 25 – April 1, 2023
*competition to run on one day, when Mother Nature calls it, during a seven-day contest window
Like-minded partners are coming together to help develop and support the Natural Selection Tour. YETI is back as the title sponsor of the Revelstoke event. Backcountry returns as the Tour’s outerwear partner with NST Freeride 3L outerwear kits available now. Pacifico, TAE, Burton, Red Bull, Oakley, Wheel Pros, GoPro, Ski-Doo, and Dakine will also return as Tour partners. To get involved, please contact the Natural Selection Tour’s Partnership Team.
The Industry Alliance marketing platform, where endemic brands are able to directly support the events and their team riders competing on the Natural Selection Tour, will return in 2023. The Tour is proud to have Union, BOA, Lib Tech, GNU, Jones, Capita, Arc’teryx, Norrona, Sandinista, Coal, Salomon, and Mons Royale on board for the coming season. Alliance members will receive brand presence on the live stream, social media, and on-site at events, along with access to content and social assets from the Tour.
