A packed house at Fuwairit Kite Beach in Qatar witnessed the first clash of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season where Bruna Kajiya made an ecstatic return to the top step and Gianmaria Coccoluto’s title defence held firm.

The opening day of the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup at Fuwairit Kite Beach Resort in Qatar saw bright blue skies and warm southerly winds at the event site all day. In the end the wind didn’t become suitable to make a start to the competition at this opening event of the Qatar Airways GKA Kite World Tour season, especially as there are stronger northerly winds forecast later in the week. Competitors took advantage of the available conditions to hit the lagoon at this amazing new...

Ludovic Guillot-Diat (FRA) took his first FWT win with an exhilarating run, leapfrogging him above the rest of the field to take the first spot in the overall rankings. Ludo navigated some exposure early in his run and sent it large off a cliff to exit, before stomping multiple airs and a huge backflip.

Another first time winner is the Austrian Valentin Rainer, he’s taking the Ski Men category victory home. Second place goes to Ross Tester from USA and coming in 3rd is current FWT champion Maxime Chabloz (SUI).

The snowboard women category went off today, with all athletes delivering fluid, clean runs. Katie Anderson (CAN) made it two wins in a row, extending the gap in the overall rankings and making her the one to beat this season. The Canadian stacked her run with features and fluidity, throwing in a couple of grabs to bring in the freestyle element and a big air mid-run to show her freeride expertise.

Olympic & world champion in mogul skiing, Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), the rookie on the tour wins the ski women competition at her second ever Freeride World Tour event.

As was forecast, conditions continued to deliver the lighter southerly winds on day two of the Visit Qatar GKA Freestyle Kite World Cup, though a positive start was made to the competition and the line-up for the women’s final is complete. The riding fleet is very compact at this event with just 16 men and eight women. The level amongst the competitors is incredibly high, but with this reduced fleet the men started directly at the quarter final stage, with four heats of four riders. There wou...

The second stop of the Freeride World Tour 2023 will take place in Ordino Arcalís (AND) in the weather window from February 2nd to 9th. as always with the best freeriders from around the world! Thus, the FWT returns to the freeride Mecca of the Pyrenees. This venue has become a staple of the tour, and for good reason. The playful terrain offers opportunities for explosive action and creative freeride lines.

The 3-Star Qualifier on the legendary Quellspitze attracts every year numerous top-class riders to use the challenging face for the first important points for the qualifier ranking. This year the Quellspitze was especially challenging. Only a few days before the Junior World Championships took place on the face and the cold nights and therefore rather hard conditions really demanded the last reserves of energy from every single rider to reach the finish. With a good choice of lines, however,...

Here are the impressive winning runs of amazing freeriding! After 2 times postponement due to weather conditions, the time had come last weekend. The most important World Tour Qualifier Series in Europe celebrated the start of the 10th season with the 3* FWT Qualifier & 2* FWT Junior competition. In difficult conditions and weather-related delays, the riders showed their absolute class and offered top-class performances with many "3s" and backflips on the Quellspitze in Kappl/Paznaun.

FWT21 runner-up, Katie Anderson (CAN), found a playful line, linking multiple airs and grabs with incredible board control, before cruising through the lower powder field with style.

Michael Mawn (USA) took the win for the second consecutive year with a strong technical line. He threaded the needle at the top of the course, airing into a tight couloir, which threw him out at high speed into the face. He then sent multiple critical airs while maintaining complete control of the board under his feet.

Max Palm (SWE) backed up his debut FWT win last year at this venue with another near-faultless display of freeriding. The young Swede opened his account with a super critical 360 into a tight zone, before linking aggressive big mountain turns into a tweaked-out air. He finished with a huge backflip and another air at high speed, cruising through the gates for the win.

Addison Rafford (USA) couldn’t have kicked off her FWT career any better, claiming victory with a fluid run from top to bottom. She begun with multiple airs from the start of the judging zone, before sending it deep off a cliff into a tight couloir, linking a few turns into a final air with a grab.

The Freeride Junior World Championships (FJWC) returned to Kappl, Austria, Thursday, 24th January. The Quellspitze offering its intimidating beauty in pristine condition to the world’s best young freeriders.

Snowboard Men Kea Chretien (FRA) took the win with a fast, fluid run from top to bottom. He started with a small air out of the gates, then sent a huge air off the ‘mushroom cliff’ while keeping the fluidity and speed maxed out to the finish line. Snowboard Women Lila Yeoman (USA) displayed her big mountain prowess by choosing a gnarly line with steep, technical terrain. She showed incredible sluff control in the thick of it, before boosting out into the wide-open terrain below and into...

Premier victories for Johanne Killi and Andri Ragettli at the FIS Freeski World Cup in LAAX. Reigning Slopestyle World Champion and local hero Andri Ragettli (SUI) wins ahead of Olympic Champions Alex Hall (USA) and Birk Ruud (NOR). No stranger to the LAAX victory podium is Johanne Killi. As the first LAAX OPEN Freeski winner, the Norwegian completes the loop to the European Freeski Open, held in LAAX in previous years where she won in 2014 as a newcomer.

Europe’s premium freestyle event celebrated a premiere, for the first time ever Freeskiers were part of the event. The FIS World Cup made its first guest appearance at the LAAX OPEN 2023 with two sport disciplines – snowboarding and freesking. Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and World champion Marcus Kleveland (NOR) take home the LAAX OPEN Slopestyle titles, while Japanese Junior Olympic champions Ono Mitsuki (JPN) and Ruka Hirano (JPN) are the 2023 Halfpipe champions. The winning...

Europe’s premium freestyle event celebrated a premiere, for the first time ever Freeskiers were part of the event. The FIS World Cup made its first guest appearance at the LAAX OPEN 2023 with two sport disciplines – snowboarding and freesking. Olympic champion Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and World champion Marcus Kleveland (NOR) take home the LAAX OPEN Slopestyle titles, while Japanese Junior Olympic champions Ono Mitsuki (JPN) and Ruka Hirano (JPN) are the 2023 Halfpipe champions. The winning...