Tignes slopestyle finals cancelled due to wind, Ruud wins men's event based on qualification results
Mar 12, 2022·Freeski Park & Pipe
Finals at the Tignes (FRA) slopestyle World Cup were cancelled on Saturday due to heavy winds that rolled into the picturesque resort, initially forcing the cancellation of women’s qualifications on Friday and then persisting throughout the finals competition window on Saturday.
Because men’s qualifications were successfully completed on Thursday before the adverse weather hit Tignes, a men’s podium could be awarded, and Norway’s Birk Ruud claimed top spot on the strength of his 88.50-scoring first run, followed by Canada’s Max Moffat in second place with a score of 87.25, and Jesper Tjader of Sweden in third with a score of 86.00.
The win was the second of the 2021/22 FIS Freeski slopestyle season for 21-year-old Ruud and comes a few weeks on the heels of his big air gold medal performance at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
With his win in Tignes, Ruud jumped to the top of the Freeski overall World Cup standings with 286 points while moving into second on the slopestyle World Cup rankings with 200 points - 50 points back of leader Andri Ragettli (SUI) and his 250.
“I mean, it always feels good to get the W,” Ruud said once the official announcement of the cancellation of finals came in, “I would have loved to ski finals but, you know, I skied my best in qualies and won the qualies so I’m super happy to take the victory, and I’m really happy to be here. It’s a nice location here in Tignes and it’s really beautiful.”
With his second-place finish, Moffat grabbed his second slopestyle World Cup podium of the season, after he also finished runner-up to Ruud at the 2021/22 campaign opener in Stubai (AUT). And, like Ruud, Moffat was able to make a big jump on the slopestyle World Cup leaderboard on Saturday, as the 23-year-old moved into third place behind his Norwegian competitor with one competition left to go in the season.
For 27-year-old Tjader, the third-place finish gave him his first World Cup podium in just over two years, and comes three-and-a-half weeks after he earned slopestyle bronze at the Games in Beijing.
Because the women’s qualifications were cancelled due to the wind on Friday and no competition phases could be run on Saturday, we were unfortunately unable to award a women’s podium in Tignes.
With no result in Tignes, Kelly Sildaru of Estonia remains atop of the women’s slopestyle World Cup standings with 200 points, followed by Sarah Hoefflin (SUI) with 160 points, and Megan Oldham (CAN) and Marin Hamill (USA), who both have 136 points.
Finally, it can be confirmed that Eileen Gu (CHN) will claim this season’s Freeski overall crystal globe on the women’s side of things, as with 580 points to Sildaru’s 369, the 18-year-old representative of China has been untouchable since results came in last week in Bakuriani (GEO).
With Tignes now behind us we look forward to the 2021/22 FIS Freeski World Cup finals in Silvaplana (SUI), which are going down in two week’s time with qualifications on March 24th, and finals on the 26th.
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