Fieberbrunn, Austria – March 12, 2021: Fresh snow has restored the Wildseeloder to itself, priming it to host the world’s best freeriders. The safety team is hard at work securing the venue, with competition confirmed for Saturday, March 13 – ensuring this famous big mountain continues its streak of standout events since 2010.
Coline Ballet-Baz (FRA – ski women) will make her FWT and big mountain competition debut as an event wildcard. Winning the 2017 Big Air World Cup in Milan and being a candidate for selection for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, she is certainly no stranger to competition. But a severe injury (ruptured cruciate ligaments in her left knee) in December 2017 sidelined Coline and ended her Olympic campaign. At the end of the 2018/19 season, at just 27 years of age, she announced her retirement from competition to devote her time to making backcountry and freeride videos… SKIVAS is her latest project, which features ten female skiers and snowboarders during the 2019/20 season. The 100% female film proves that these ‘Ski/Divas’ are pushing the boundaries of freedom, creativity and sisterhood on and off the mountain. But can she bring this progression to the FWT main stage and challenge the established roster?
Roster Update
Due to injuries, the defending champion Isaac Freeland (USA – ski men), Claire McGregor (NZL – snowboard women), Raymond McDermott (USA – ski men) Olivia McNeill (CAN – ski women), and Carl Renvall will not participate in Fieberbrunn. But Gigi Rüf (AUT – snowboard men), Arianna Tricomi (ITA – ski women) and Konstantin Ottner (GER – ski men) all return to the roster and are firing to get some points on the board. Though with the weather predicted to deteriorate after the event, there will be no time for a second competition in Austria. This makes Saturday the last chance for all athletes to secure points, and their spot in the Xtreme Verbier 2021 and FWT22. Don’t forget to predict your winners at https://peakperformance.pronosticgames.fr/Events.
The competition will be closed to the public but streamed LIVE! Watch all the action as it happens on the FWT website, the FWT YouTube and Facebook channels, FUEL TV and L’Equipe TV.
The FWT would like to thank all their media partners who continue their support of the sport and cross-post on their channels: Teton Gravity Research, Lugares de Nieve, Fuel TV, Board Sport Source, Whitelines, L’Equipe, RTS, The Inertia, Freeride.se, Friflyt, WePowder, Forecast Ski Magazine, Ski Believers, Prime Skiing & Snowboarding, Unofficial Network, Xtreme Video, SBC Skier, Downdays, Bergstolz, Mpora, Outdoors Magic, Snowsurf, Skieur Magazine, UNREEL, Agence Sport Center, Aka Skidor, Canal 9, In the Snow, Moka Magazine, Mountain Life Media, Neve Italia, ZDF, Solonieve, La Stampa, Kiss The Mountain, Powderguide, Shop-eat-surf, freeskiers.net, and Low Pressure Podcast.
Stay tuned on freerideworldtour.com and the FWT social media channels for updates and rider news as athletes prepare for the penultimate event of FWT21 in Fieberbrunn, Austria.
As health and safety is always the priority for FWT organisers, they are actively working in conjunction with local authorities to ensure each competition is compliant with current regulations.