Finally Pow: The FWT has a blast in Val Thorens

So let’s dive into the action with ski men, simply because they went first on the venue today. There were three options to start for the riders on a long and flat ridge, and one might argue that the final result had quite a bit to do with the choice of starting point. There was obviously a winning line as both top finishers, Martin Bender and Valentin Rainer, started at the center and headed out skier’s left. Both cleared the top section with a drop followed by a massive 360 over another drop, albeit in slightly different variations: Valentin started with a drop from the cornice and made a transfer 360 out of the top section, while Martin chose a bit more technical approach with two cliffs underneath the cornice. Martin had a very slight backslap landing his 360 while Valentin absolutely stomped his. Following a long traverse where Valentin was the first to lay tracks, they moved into a steep and diverse bottom section. Valentin entered with a straight air on a roller—lacking the speed for a trick as the first skier on that feature—and followed with a huge, perfectly stomped 360 over a rock section and fast turns out including another straight air. Martin threw a 3 on that top roller following Valentin’s track, showed almost the same 360 drop at the rock section, again with a little shakiness in the landing, and a very comparable bottom part. The judges awarded Martin 2 point more for the victory. Again, I don’t want to argue with the result, but it might be worth noting that in this case more tricks and a slightly more technical approach up top triumphed over perfect execution. It should be added that all discussions would be in vain, if Weitien Ho had landed his run. He also skied this line, basically copying Valentin’s top, adding a Screamin’ Seaman on the roller, perfectly executing the 360 drop and opting for a huge transfer backflip at the bottom. Unfortunately, he took this final jump a little too deep and crashed.

Second place went to the winner of the first stop, Justine Dufour-Lapointe. The Canadian also had a backflip in her run, albeit in a less technical section of the course. Just as the third and fourth place finishers, she opted for the center start, went straight into the steep section with a sizable drop and skied out on a ridge for another nice cliff before finding that perfect launch pad for her trademark trick. Lena Kohler, who finished third, took almost the same line and skied it very fast and fluent, only missing a trick for an even better result. However, the tour rookie will be stoked on her first FWT podium following a rough start in Spain. Elisabeth Gerritzen in fourth place was another skier on this line but arguably the one with the least commitment out of the three. The former tour champion from Switzerland was maybe looking for a safe result in France following a big crash at the first tour stop in Spain. After all, she only entered the FWT this season on a last minute wild card following an injury of fellow Verbier FWT skier Sybille Blanjean.

While the ranking of second through fourth place was pretty obvious in its order due to three skiers opting for the same line and showing different executions, fifth place finisher Arianna Tricomi could be another cause for discussion. On her return to the World Tour, the three-time tour champion from Italy basically followed the winning line of the ski men. She didn’t include the 360 on the transfer air out of the top section, but it still was a technical line, and she added a 360 on the roller into the steep bottom section, albeit maybe coming a bit short. She then added a drop over a sizable rock section and followed up with fast and controlled skiing through the whole steep bottom part. Arianna could have added more airs here, but the bottom section on this side of the course was definitely more technical than the line of the competitors finishing directly in front of her. Nevertheless, another good result for Arianna.