FWT Challenger series concludes with 6 riders earning tickets to the Freeride World Tour

The Freeride World Tour aims to broaden its organizational structure and, as a first step, they changed the format for the 2025 FWT Challenger series in the “Region 1”. (Region 1 is Europe, Asia and Oceania in the FWT structure, while Region 2 is North and South America.) While the Challenger series was so far—and in Region 2 still is—a selection of events towards the end of each season to decide about access for some riders to next year’s FWT, both between riders who had missed the cut and therefore re-qualification at the FWT level and riders who topped the FWT Qualifier rankings that season , the new structure consists of two clearly separate levels. On top is the Freeride World Tour and below are the FWT Challengers, all season-long event series in their own right and with a set list of qualified athletes. The difference is that the FWT is one universal, world-wide series, while the FWT Challengers would be two parallel series, one for the Americas and one for Europe-Asia-Oceania. In order to qualify for the FWT of the following season, athletes either need to make the cut in the FWT or place at the top of one of the FWT Challenger series, and in order to qualify for one of the Challenger series, athletes either were on FWT level but missed the cut, ranked in the middle of the current Challenger series or qualified through FWT Qualifier events. The FWT Qualifiers would remain a rather open system of events for athletes to enter based on previous results and demand for starting spots.

The reason for this change is on one hand, that it has proved to be difficult to hold high-quality events towards the end of a winter in challenging snow and weather conditions on a level that the FWT qualification deserves; on the other hand an ever increasing pool of athletes, both in terms of sheer amount of riders and in terms of riding level and experience that young emerging athletes bring to the tour, demands more access to the FWT. Obviously, there is criticism especially from riders who miss the cut on the FWT since they would miss at least a season of competing on the highest level before having a chance to make it back into the limelight, but hopefully a higher standard in FWT Challenger events will provide a suitable platform to entertain a pro rider’s career in the future. Additionally, this more structured approach in terms of season planning should allow athletes to better combine competitive aspects with other projects like filming.

The FWT Challenger series in Region 1 consisted of six events in 2025, where the best four results would count for every athlete’s overall ranking. The season started in La Rosière, France in January, headed to Montafon, Austria in February, returned to the Western Alps beginning of March with events in Nendaz, Switzerland as well as at Monte Rosa, Italy and concluded with two events in Austria, the traditional contest at Kitzsteinhorn and the rather new event in Obertauern. At Monte Rosa, only a competition in Ski Women could be completed due to weather, while all other events saw great contests for both categories in skiing and snowboarding. It could be criticized that all events were staged in the Alps and most happened in March only, however, this limited the travel requirements for athletes and potentially allowed riders to qualify for the FWT with only dedicating a month of the season to the competition circuit. That should be attractive to skiers who have a strong footing in the media sphere of the sport and, on the other hand, should help younger athletes, many of which are organized in freeride teams and travel with their coaches.

In the Ski Women’s category, two athletes made the promotion to the FWT and it was clear early on, who would make the cut. It’s two athletes from France—still somewhat the dominating nation in freeriding—and both had two wins and a total of four podium places contributing to their overall result. Zoé Delzoppo topped the ranking in the end, winning in Nendaz as well as at Kitzsteinhorn and finishing second in Montafon as well as third at Monte Rosa. Zoé is only 19 years old and stems from Lyon, but regularly went to La Clusaz for skiing with her parents from a young age. It will be exiting to see how this youngster will fare on the highest level next season. Second on the 2025 FWT Challenger was Lou Barin from Val Thorens. The 26-year-old had her first appearance on the FWT Junior circuit a decade ago, but only has entertained a focused competitive career in freeriding since 2023 and is now looking forward to compete at the FWT stop in her home resort in 2026. Lou won the Challengers in Montafon as well as at Monte Rosa and finished third in La Rosière as well as in both Kitzsteinhorn and Obertauern—so she actually had a podium as throw-away result. Mila de le Rue—also only 19 years old and daughter of freeride legend Xavier de le Rue—finished third overall with consistently strong results, while Kelly Berthon from France won the first event and Zanna Farrell from New Zealand won the last, but both missed the consistency of Lou and Zoé. All three will be among the riders to watch in the FWT Challenger series next season.

In the Ski Men’s, consistency was the most important ingredient for qualifying to the 2026 FWT. Victor Hale-Woods, the 22-year-old son of FWT and Xtreme Verbier founder Nicolas Hale-Woods, finished on top of the overall ranking based on two second-place-finishes in Nendaz and at Kitzsteinhorn as well as a third place in Montafon—he is the only rider to make three podiums this season. Second overall and almost as consistent was Paul de Pourtalès. The 26-year-old Swiss, who rides out of legendary La Grave, started with a fourth place in France, before adding a second as well as a third place and sealing the deal as eighth at Kitzsteinhorn. A similar record, albeit with a later start, was accumulated by 24 year old Frenchman Ugo Troubat; the skier from Les Arcs finished third overall with a third, a fifth, a sixth and an eighth place result.

It could be done differently, though, as was shown by 22-year-old Fynn Powell. The New Zealander had only one Top 10 finish under his belt before going into the final two events in Austria. However, the kiwi managed to complete an amazing comeback in the overall ranking with two victories in a row including an absolutely amazing run at the final Challenger in Obertauern, where he performed absolutely worthy of a victory at any FWT stop. Watch the replay! With this feat, Fynn managed to equalize Ugo Troubat’s sum of overall points and earned an FWT spot literally in the last minute—he was the last skier to drop in Obertauern. It also meant heartbreak for Paul Dentan from Verbier, who had won the Challenger in Montafon. The 24-year-old Swiss had already missed out on FWT qualification by the slightest margin in 2024 as fifth of the Challenger series, but even came closer in 2025. A sixth place in Obertauern meant, he ended with a mere 10 points behind Ugo and Fynn in the overall ranking. We really wish Paul the best of luck for next season to finally make the jump to the highest level—he surely is ready for it. Also, a shout-out to Frenchies Anthony Cot and Rudy Collet, who won the Challenger events in La Rosière and Nendaz respectively.