Freeride World Tour (FWT) 2010 was kicked off a week ago in Chamonix, France. Many journalists joined several riders to get the inside scoop on the upcoming dates and check out the competition venue at Brevent.

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Last season we had our own boy Jarkko Henttonen working as a judge, and he reported directly from the battle field such as Sochi freeride event. Also our very own freeride ladies Anni Karvinen (made it almost to the podium) and Kaisa Härkönen toured all events. This year they won’t join, but Jarkko will continue working as a judge. Naturally Homeboys will follow and report directly from the mountains..

Freeride Elite United for the Freeride World Tour

A unique mix of the world’s foremost freeride skiers and snowboarders have all confirmed their participation in the Freeride World Tour 2010, with the prize purse of no less than $206 200. The athletes will see a new event on the 2010 Tour calendar, the Nissan Freeride de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, with scheduled competition day on January 30.

“The fluidity in the choice of lines, the perfection of technical jumps combined with speed, has pushed freeriding into a new era. Chamonix-Mont-Blanc hosted one of the first European freeride contests in 1994, and we have decided to continue our involvement in freeriding with the second stage of the Freeride World Tour 2010,” stated Éric Fournier, Mayor of the mythical freeride mecca of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.

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Professional athletes with a serious commitment to the sport and with different backgrounds such as freestyle, alpine skiing, boarder cross, or filming for important film productions, is pushing the sport of freeriding to even higher levels, promising an eventful season for the Freeride World Tour 2010.

A good example is snowboarder Xavier de Le Rue (FRA) – two-time Freeride World Champion (2009, 2008), and four time World Champion in boarder cross (2001-2003, 2007), competing for France at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, parallel to defending his World Champion title in freeride: “Freeride and boarder cross are really complementary; boarder cross develops technicality, speed and stability, which has meant a lot for my freeriding career, and in freeriding the depth of one’s mental capacity is probably one of the most exceptional aspects, the mind’s total focus when riding a difficult face. ”

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Riders qualified for first stage of the FWT* (with Freeride World Ranking indicated or wild card/WC) are listed below.

Ski Men (20)
1. Aurelien Ducroz FRA
2. Reine Barkered SWE
3. Sverre Liliequist SWE
4. Matthias Haunholder AUT
5. Henrik Windstedt SWE
6. Thibaud Duchosal FRA
7. Raphy Gillioz SUI
8. Seb Michaud FRA
9. Thomas Diet FRA
10. Kaj Zackrisson SWE
11. Torgrim Vole NOR
12. Griffin Post USA
WC. Stefan Hausl AUT
WC. Adrien Coirier FRA
WC. Richard Permin FRA
WC. JT Holmes USA
WC. Phil Meier SUI
WC. Cody Townsend USA
WC. Tim Dutton USA
WC. Sebastian Hannemann GER
WC. Egor Srokin RUS

Snowboard Men (10)
1. Xavier De Le Rue FRA
3. Max Zipser AUT
4. Matt Annetts USA
6. Mitch Toelderer AUT
7. Flo Orley AUT
8. Will Brommelsiek USA
WC. Eric Themel AUT
WC. Cyril Neri SUI
WC. Niklas Hollsten FIN
WC. Egor Druzhinin RUS

Ski Women (9)
1. Ane Enderud NOR
2. Marja Persson SWE
3. Jess Mc Millan USA
4. Elyse Saugstad USA
WC. Rebecka Eriksson SWE
WC. Caroline Meynet FRA
WC. Janette Hargin SWE
WC. Stina Jakobsson SWE
WC. Crystal Wright USA

Snowboard Women (4)
1. Susan Mol USA
2. Aline Bock GER
WC. Vivian Aasen NOR
WC. Maria Kuzma NZL

*The first stage of the FWT10 for male riders is Nissan Russian Adventure by Swatch in Sochi, Russia, 21 January. The first stage of the FWT10 for female riders is Nissan Freeride de Chamonix in France, 30 January

The 2010 Freeride World Tour’s four stages

1. NISSAN RUSSIAN ADVENTURE BY SWATCH – SOCHI, RUSSIA (January 21st 2010)

2. NISSAN FREERIDE OF CHAMONIX-MONT-BLANC – FRANCE (January 30th 2010)

3. NISSAN TRAM FACE – SQUAW VALLEY USA – UNITED STATES (February 27th 2010)

4. NISSAN XTREME BY SWATCH – VERBIER, SWITZERLAND (March 20th 2010)