Slopestyle World Cup rolls on to Tignes
Mar 09, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
There are just two competitions left in the 2021/22 FIS Freeski World Cup calendar and the battle for this season’s crystal globes is set to heat up this week at the season’s penultimate event, where a heavy collection of the world’s best are on hand in Tignes (FRA) for slopestyle competition that’s set to go down from 10-12 March, 2022.
Tignes has one of the deepest and most storied pasts in the history of the FIS Freestyle World Cup, having first played host to World Cup competition 42 years ago in the 1979/80 World Cup season, and the halfpipe, moguls, aerials, ski cross and even ski ballet World Cups have all showcased their stuff here at Tignes a multitude of times.
However, while Tignes has also played host to X Games Europe several times in the past (most recently in 2013), this week will mark the first time that the resort will welcome the women and men of the slopestyle World Cup to its storied slopes. And, with limitless sun through the first two days of training and an unconventional course design that’s allowing for for some creative skiing, the vibe has been high so far here in France.
LEDEUX LOOKING TO MAKE IT TWO-FOR-TWO ON FRENCH SOIL THIS SEASON
As far as the host French are concerned, the star of the show here in Tignes will be Tess Ledeux, as the 20-year-old comes into this week’s competition on home soil looking for a little slopestyle redemption after a somewhat disappointing result at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
While Ledeux did claim big air bronze in Beijing, she ended up finishing seventh in slopestyle - the event she was a strong gold medal-favourite for after claiming last season’s slopestyle and Freeski overall World Cup crystal globes.
Currently sitting in seventh place on the slopestylew World Cup standings, Ledeux already has one French victory in 2021/22 from Font Romeu, so perhaps another turn on home soil will be just the thing she needs to inspire her back to the top of the podium and put herself in the crystal globe race once again this season.
However, another win in France won’t come easy for Ledeux, as we’re looking at a strong field of women looking for one of the eight spots in Saturday’s finals at Tignes.
Tops among them is Estonia’s Kelly Sildaru, the current slopestyle World Cup leader and Beijing 2022 bronze medallist.
Sildaru has wins in both of her slopestyle starts so far this season in World Cup competition, including a victory in Mammoth where she topped the best that Eileen Gu (CHN) had to offer. Though 20 year old Sildaru has won nearly everything there is to win in freeskiing already in her young career, consistent World Cup success hasn’t been her top priority up to this point.
However, now, with the World Cup lead in her hands and just two strong results standing between herself and a first career crystal globe, you can bet she’ll be firing on all cylinders again this week.
Although Beijing 2022 slopestyle silver medallist Gu isn’t on hand here in Tignes this week, tgold medallist Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland most certainly is, and she’ll be looking to keep the Olympic momentum rolling into some World Cup success in a season that’s seen her only start at one World Cup event so far.
Gremaud also took silver at this season’s X Games, just behind Ledeux, so the battle between the two French speakers should be an interesting one in the coming days.
Also to watch out for in the women’s field are Megan Oldham and Olivia Asselin of Canada (with Oldham fresh off a win at the Bakuriani sloepstyle World Cup last weekend), Bakuriani runner-up and slopestyle World Cup second-overall ranked Sarah Hoefflin of Switzerland, and Johanne Killi of Norway.
RAGETTLI INCHING CLOSER TO FIFTH CAREER CRYSTAL GLOBE
For the men, it’s once again Swiss tech master Andri Ragettli on top of the World Cup standings after a win last week in Bakuriani, and he’ll be rolling into Tignes with a chip on his shoulder against this week’s all-star field after finishing just off the podium in fourth place at the Beijing 2022 Games a few weeks ago.
This past January’s X Games winner, Ragettli holds the record for the most wins (10), most podiums (22) and most crystal globes (4) for any freeskier in World Cup history, and he’s dead-set on increasing all of those totals through the final two competitions of the season.
No matter how much he wins, Ragettli remains hungry for more, and he’ll be looking to make a statement this week in Tignes. And, with his compatriots Colin Wili and Fabien Boesch currently sitting in second and third behind him on the slopestyle World Cup standings, respectively, the Swiss squad as a whole will have a lot riding on the last two competitions of the season, as they seek to mirror the podium sweep they achieved in Bakuriani last week on the overall standings for 2021/22.
However, Ragettli and the rest of the field are going to have to deal with Beijing 2022 slopestyle gold medallist Alex Hall (USA), who returns to competition after a little post-Olympic break looking energized through training. Hall currently sits in fourth on the World Cup rankings despite not starting last week in Bakuriani, and he claimed an impressive win on home soil in Mammoth back in January. If he’s skiing anything like he did in Beijing, he could be hard to beat.
Beijing 2022 bronze medallist Jesper Tjader (SWE) is also set to drop in on Tignes this week and has also looked on point throughout training. With the non-traditional course set up here in France and Tjader’s proven ability to adapt to whatever situation is thrown at him, he should be one to watch in the coming days.
And if we’re talking about ones-to-watch, a skier who’s near the top of that list at every competition is Norway’s Birk Ruud - Beijing 2022 big air gold medallist, winner of the slopestyle season-opening Stubai (AUT) World Cup, and arguably the most explosive freeskier in the world today. Ruud is currently sitting in seventh on the slopestyle World Cup standings, but with a couple strong showings to close out the season he could very easily crack into the top three once we shut the season down in Silvaplana in a couple weeks.
Both of Ruud’s big air podium-mates from Beijing will also be dropping in here in Tignes, with Colby Stevenson (USA) and Henrik Harlaut (SWE) almost guaranteed to be in the mix come finals time. While Stevenson has yet to podium in World Cup competition thus far in 2021/22, laSt season he claimed the slopestyle and Freeski overall crystal globes in fairly dominant fashion. Look for him to step it up here in Tignes.
X Games slopestyle silver medallist Max Moffat will be leading the way for the Canadians, while the likes of Mac Forehand (USA), Oliwer Magnusson (SWE), Sebastian Schjerve (NOR) and Thibault Magnin (ESP) are just a few of the other names that jump out from the start list ahead Thursday’s qualifications.
We’ll have where-to-watch and livestream info available closer to finals time, so check back to this story on our website or follow our social media channels for more updates.
QUICK LINKS
Tignes slopestyle World Cup data page (start lists, livescoring, results)
