By all accounts the first ever Freeride World Qualifier in Hakuba, Japan was a roaring success. Not only did Travis Rice announce a surprise last minute entry, but on the day he blew the field and contest to pieces with the amazing run above. Here’s us hoping that this will inspire him and other big names to properly join the Freeride World Tour and make it the best competition in our sport. They already have the terrain, with some bigger names this could be the end of the FIS/TTR tedium and the start of the one tour to rule them all.
Politics aside, the rest of the field was rockin’ too, despite pretty flat light (well, it is Japan, land of the falling snow). Local boy Shin Biyajima was gracious in second despite the celeb pipping him to the top, and Spaniard David Vicente flowed into third.
In the woman’s Russian rider Anna Orlova scored both first place and valuable qualifying point with some aggresive charging, whilst Michaela Davis-Meehan snuck ahead of Erika Vikander for second.
You can catch the whole proceedings again below if you missed it, complete with commentary from the one and only Tim Warwood. Oh, and the tour itself kicks off in ten days!
