PHOTO: TVB Stubai/SEBASTIAN MARKO
The Stubai Glacier will be the stage for Olympic medallists, World Cup overall winners and X-Games heroes this month when the first slopestyle World Cup points of the new winter season will be up for grabs.
The line-up once again features the national and international elite of freeskiers, who will as always, provide an impressive spectacle on two planks. From 22 to 25 November 2023, the FIS Freeski World Cup will be held for the seventh time at the popular Stubai Zoo Snowpark. The thrilling final can be watched live on channels worldwide.
The Stubai Glacier is traditionally the first venue for the World Cup stage in November. And it’s not the planks of a theatre stage that mean the world here, but those on which the performers work their aesthetic magic in the snow (and air). For the seventh time, the Tyrolean Stubai Valley welcomes the best national and international athletes to celebrate the slopestyle premiere of the year. As usual, the performers will find perfect park conditions to ring in the competition season and vie for prize money totalling CHF 55,000.
After the end of the registration phase, Ski Austria and the organisers can once again look forward to the who’s who of the international scene and therefore extremely exciting competitions in the Stubai Valley. As in previous years, the contingent (30 women and 60 men) from four continents has once again been exhausted and some of the leading stars as well as promising “risers” will not be missing out on an appearance on the Gaiskarferner.
Andreas Kleinlercher, Lift Operations Director Stubai Glacier said: “It’s an honour for us to be able to host the World Cup for the seventh time. I dare to say that we certainly have one of the best parks in autumn. It is already perfectly shaped and now we have fresh snow again. We are already proud and are looking forward to the pictures that will go out.”
An exciting fight for the podium is pre-programmed in the men’s event. In the title roles: The 2023 Slopestyle World Champion from Norway and the 2021 Slopestyle World Champion from Switzerland, both proven winners in the Stubai Valley. Will the Norwegian Olympic champion in Big Air and defending Stubai champion from 2021 and 2022, Birk Ruud, manage the triple and once again take the crown on the Stubai Glacier?
Facing him is 2020 winner Andri Ragettli, who had to settle for second place last year. The signs are already signalling a showdown in a class of its own.
These two should also reckon with the rest of the cast, however, as Ruud’s teammate Sebastian Schervje and Swedish legend Jesper Tjäder (Olympic bronze in slopestyle) could, like Tjäder last year, be among the front runners.
Top riders from overseas won’t be missing out on their first guest appearance in Europe either: with three-time X Games winner and 2022 Slopestyle Olympic champion Alex Hall (fourth place last year), Ralph Konnor, who was strong on the Stubai Glacier last year, as well as their team-mates Hunter Hendersson, Cody Laplante and Mac Forehand, the USA has a broad armada in Europe. Canadian talent, above all Max Moffat, can also be expected to make an appearance when it comes to spectacular slopestyle action.
In the absence of the last two winners (Kelly Sildaru and Johanne Killi), the women’s season opener could develop into a play with fresh drama. The 2020 winner and Olympic silver medallist in the Big Air, Tess Ledeux (FRA), will start in Tyrol with an extra dose of self-confidence thanks to her second place in Chur. However, she will almost certainly have to share the stage with her Swiss colleagues. Olympic champion in slopestyle and first placed in Chur, Mathilde Gremaud, and Sarah Höfflin, who took bronze in Chur, will certainly also be aiming for the coveted crowns.