The Freeride World Tour resumes its 2024 season in Canada this Thursday. Following the surprise kick-off event in Verbier and two cancelled stops in the Pyrenees, the FWT is back to normal business with the scheduled competition in Kicking Horse Mountain Resort near Golden, British Columbia. The event will happen at the first day of the announced weather window, so watch out this Thursday, February 15 already for some action on the screen. European viewers will have the chance to witness the world’s best riders at prime time, as competition is scheduled to start at 6:30 pm CET with snowboarders going first. That means skiers should be on course not before 7 pm Central European Time with women first and then ski men rounding out the competition.
Quick News
The FWT stop at Kicking Horse is scheduled for Thursday
If you happen to be around the Purcell Mountains close to the border between British Columbia and Alberta, you should take advantage and watch the action live. It might be worth showing up in time at 10:15 MST as sit skiing phenom Jay Rawe is supposed to be one of the forerunners. The competition site is going to be T1 South which has seen FWT action in 2022 and currently offers good riding conditions with a solid base and 20 cm of soft snow on top. The current forecast promises a coating of fresh pow for competition day. Last year’s venue, the Ozone Face, was skipped by the organizer due to challenging snow conditions. Weather has been unseasonably mild in Western Canada and the FWT strives to get the second stop of this year’s tour in the books as quickly as possible.
The fight for starting spots at the tour finals in Fieberbrunn and Verbier is heating up in Kicking Horse, since only the inaugural event in Giorgia at the beginning of March will be left for riders to earn tour points before the cut following the Canadian event. With only three events to decide about the rankings, a good result is almost mandatory for all riders who didn’t make it to the top of the result list in Verbier. That includes defending tour champion Valentin Rainer as well as the Canadian contingent of Marcus Goguen and Weitien Ho. Judging on their attempts in Verbier, though, and considering the extra motivation of starting in front of a home crowd, we should expect thrilling runs from both Marcus and Weitien, for sure. On the women’s side, defending tour champion and Canadian hero Justine Dufour-Lapointe can’t attend the event in Kicking Horse for personal reasons, unfortunately. Also missing will be Taylor Dobyns in the women’s and Simon Perraudin in the men’s field due to injuries contracted during the Verbier Pro event.
Watch the livestream starting on February 15, 6:15 CET on the official event website or watch it here:
