Canadians reign both FWT and Bec des Rosses — with a Swiss dash

Although athletes couldn’t start from the top this year due to a lack of snow, the infamous Bec des Rosses didn’t disappoint and the Xtreme Verbier saw plenty of action including massive cliff drops, audacious tricks and super fast straight lines. If you have some time to spare, head over to the replay. However, the challenging snow conditions took their toll and there were unusually few runs that saw riders cross the finish line without at least some wobble, quite a lot actually finished with a “no score” result because they lost a piece of equipment on the way. (It’s worth noting that riders without a score are still ranked based on how far they make it down the venue before the loss of equipment happens.) This shouldn’t be mistaken for a drop in skiing quality, though. In fact, the combination of no pressure to qualify for the tour final—and thus a guaranteed spot on next year’s FWT—and the wish to at least podium at the world’s most prestigious freeride event, upped the risk level that most riders were ready to accept. In the Ski Men’s category, five out of 13 starters attempted either a double backflip or a cork 7, but nobody managed to land it. It was nevertheless reassuring to see, that athletes have become very good in risk assessment and the handling of critical situations: Even when a fall happened in an exposed section of the face—and that means in quite a few spots on that venue—everybody managed to regain control quickly.

The Ski Women started with Lily Bradley, who had qualified last minute with a victory in Fieberbrunn. The American opted for the start at skier’s right, where only Virgile Didier had dropped in among the Ski Men, and she followed the exact same line down the steep main face of the Bec. She landed a cliff safely and then attempted a backflip on a drop in the middle of an exposed section, but crashed just like the Frenchman had before her. A bold and remarkable attempt by Lily, but unfortunately no score. Fellow American Molly Armanino also followed that line, but she skipped the doomed cliff in order to head for a massive drop at the bottom of the steep section. However, the landing proved to be too flat—as was regarded by several athletes during inspection—and Molly also missed a score.

Meanwhile Lena Kohler had gone for the popular center line and the German rookie cleared the mandatory Fasnacht cliff with more dedication than some of the men, but she couldn’t quite hold it together in the landing and a tumble set back her score. Nevertheless it meant a podium spot for Lena, her third for the season. Fellow rookie Jenna Keller took the top part a bit more carefully and came out the Fasnacht cliff perfectly controlled. She then added the cliff that had seen the ill-fated double backflip and cork 7 attempts, but Jenna cleverly adapted her speed, landed safely and managed to navigate the many bomb holes. This solid run earned her the Xtreme title, obviously a special feat and even more so for the Verbier local.

That’s it for the 2025 Freeride World Tour, but before I leave you with an overview of the result lists, a short remark on the overall points scheme. When I wrote the preview article earlier this week, I had assumed the Xtreme would earn the athletes the same amount of overall points as last season, and the FWT website still says on the top of the ranking pages that the tour final would award 12,000 points for a win, while a victory at a normal tour stop is worth 10,000 points. Miraculously, the rankings then denote 12,500 points for the win at the Xtreme in all categories and an adjusted split of points for the following positions. It’s worth noting, once again, that the split is different for Ski Men than it is for Ski Women and both snowboard categories.

What makes me scratch my head even more is the fact that during the live coverage the FWT presented overall results that were obviously based on the same point scheme as last year. If you compare those results—you can look them up in the replay—with the tables below, you will find different numbers for the accumulated points. For most athletes, that didn’t effect their overall positions, but in Ski Men the official overall spot—assuming what is on the FWT website is official—for Ben Richards is fourth and for Valentin Rainer is fifth, while in the livestream the ranking had Valentin in fourth place just in front of Ben. It’s not a major issue and I’m sure Valentin couldn’t care less—after all he already has a Overall title under his belt—but it’s still a bit unsettling, particularly since the FWT is now a part of the FIS and therefore should have enough focus on those administrative aspects of our beloved sport. So maybe take the following result tables with a grain of salt, they might change in some details. I sent a request to clarify this subject matter to the FWT, but haven’t heard back until the time of writing.

What’s sure, though, Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Marcus Goguen are FWT Champions, and not only at the time of writing of this article. I also want to devote a few words to the people riding on one board: Congrats to Noémie Equy and Victor de le Rue, both from France, to becoming FWT Champions; it’s in Noémie’s rookie season, while for Victor it’s almost routine—his fourth title. What a feat of both! I always enjoy watching the snowboarders, as they put down amazing performances. We simply don’t report on it as we are a ski publication; this isn’t out of disrespect but simply due to efficiency.

Ride on!